Russian President Vladimir Putin has faced Western efforts to isolate him because of the war in Ukraine. But he has a full day of diplomacy on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization event in Kazakhstan.
Putin has meetings with the leaders of Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Turkey, China and Pakistan on Wednesday, one day ahead of the main group events at the summit in Astana, Kazakhstan’s capital, according to Tass, the official Russian news agency.
Russia views the summit in Astana as an “opportunity to organize bilateral contacts with the country leaders who will attend it,” said Putin aide Yury Ushakov, according to Tass. Ushakov said he expected Putin to hold several more “brief bilateral contacts” on Thursday.
Putin’s flurry of diplomacy comes despite Western sanctions that have sought to weaken Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, now in its third year. Many countries prefer to maintain trade with Russia, a key producer of energy and other natural resources. Central Asia has chosen neutrality in the Russia-Ukraine conflict and with the exception of a handful of private entities has avoided sanctions.
The SCO is a forum for discussion of security, economic and political issues. Its members are China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Iran, India and Pakistan. Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a close ally of Putin, has said he expects Belarus to become a new member of the group at the Astana meeting.
