In front of Xi Jinping, Vladimir Putin condemned countries that want a “unipolar world”.

Far from Ukraine, but still connected to the underground situation, China’s presidents, Xi Jinping, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin, are meeting today in Uzbekistan for a regional summit in what looks like a confrontation facing the West.

MM Xi and Putin are joined in the two-day Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit in Samarkand, a key stop on the ancient Silk Road, by leaders of India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and others. While the main meeting of the summit takes place tomorrow, Thursday’s bilateral meeting between the Chinese and Russian presidents, whose countries are at the center of international diplomatic crises, will be the most scrutinized.

Mr. For Putin, the summit is an opportunity to show that Russia is not isolated on the world stage. Mr. Xi could further strengthen his status as top leader ahead of the Chinese Communist Party congress in October. An unprecedented third time.

Their meeting cast an air of defiance over the US, which has led economic sanctions against Moscow and military support for Kyiv, and has drawn Beijing’s ire with several visits by US officials to Taiwan. “The Shanghai Cooperation Organization offers a real alternative to Western structures”Yuri Ochakov, the Kremlin’s diplomatic adviser, assured the press on Tuesday. This is about “The largest organization in the world, it covers half the population of the planet” And she has a job “International Order Only”he added.

The last meeting between MM. Putin and Xi date back to February when the Russian president Returned to the Winter Olympics Beijing, days before Moscow’s attack on Ukraine. Without Openly support Russian intervention, Beijing has repeatedly expressed its support for Moscow, isolated in the West, in recent months. Moscow, for its part, has supported China’s position during recent tensions surrounding Taiwan. Last month, Beijing also participated in joint military maneuvers in Russia, agreeing to settle its gas contracts with Moscow in rubles and yuan. And no more in western currencies.

According to two economists, François Chimits and Antonia Hmaidi, imports and exports between Beijing and Moscow rose in several sectors in the months following the Russian offensive in Ukraine.

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