Xi, Putin to participate in Shanghai Cooperation Organization meeting in Astana.

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Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the 24th meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), which will be held from July 3 to 4. Russian state-controlled news agency RIA Novosti reported on July 1 that Putin "was preparing for the meeting in Astana," citing Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying confirmed Xi's participation a day earlier.

Hua added that after the meeting in Astana, the Chinese leader will also stay longer in Kazakhstan and pay a visit to Tajikistan at the invitations of Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Tajik President Emomali Rahmon, according to a statement published on the Foreign Ministry's website. U.N. Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who skipped Ukraine's peace summit in June, is expected to participate in the event in Astana as well, the U.N. in Kazakhstan reported on X.

The SCO is an intergovernmental organization established by China and Russia in 2001 in Shanghai. It focuses on Eurasian political, economic, security, and defense issues. The organization consists of nine member states, including China, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, Russia, Tajikistan, and Uzbekistan.

Putin and Xi are both members of the Council of Heads of State, a supreme decision-making body of the organization that meets once a year. Putin and Xi last met in May, when the Russian president came to China for a two-day visit. Moscow and Beijing have deepened their ties amid Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent pressure from the West.

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