New Delhi: Russia will continue to oppose Western sanctions, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in his address to Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) leaders Tuesday, adding that the country continues to “develop as never before”.
Putin’s address at the one-day virtual summit hosted by Prime Minister Narendra Modi was his first appearance at an international event since he crushed an armed insurrection by the Wagner mercenary group in late June.
The Russian President sounded defiant to Western pressure after his country’s invasion of Ukraine, saying Russia continued “to counter all external sanctions, pressures and provocations and continues to develop as never before”.
“I would like to thank my colleagues from the SCO countries who expressed support for the actions of the Russian leadership to protect the constitutional order and the life and security of citizens,” he told SCO leaders in his address from the Kremlin.
The 23rd SCO summit was also attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko, and Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev among others.
Putin backed trade accords between SCO nations in local currencies, adding that more than 80% of trade between Chinese and Russian people was in Roubles and Yuan. He urged other SCO members to follow the same process.
He also welcomed Russian ally Belarus’s application to become a permanent member of the SCO next year.
He used the platform to answer any questions about his grip on power on Russia in the wake of the Wagner mutiny.
The Russian leader said: “The solidarity and high responsibility for the fate of the fatherland was clearly demonstrated by Russian political circles and the entire society by coming out as a united front against the attempted armed rebellion.”
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in his inaugural speech, asked member states to strongly come down on countries that used cross-border terrorism as an instrument of state policy – which was interpreted as a clear message to Pakistan.
Formed in 2001 by China and Russia, with former Soviet central Asian states as members and joined later by India and Pakistan, the eight-member SCO is a political and security group, accounting for a large portion of Eurasia.
In this summit, Iran was made the SCO’s newest member, while Belarus signed a memorandum of obligations which will lead to its membership in 2024.
Also read: Some countries use cross-border terrorism as state policy, SCO must condemn them: PM Modi