MOSCOW, September 15./TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin begins on Thursday a two-day visit to Uzbekistan, where he will take part in a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) and is also scheduled for a number of meetings in bilateral and multilateral formats.

According to Putin’s aide Yury Ushakov, on September 15, the Russian president will meet for talks with his Kyrgyz counterpart Sadyr Japarov, with President of Turkmenistan Serdar Berdymukhamedov, Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahbaz Sharif, and Chinese President Xi Jinping. In addition, a trilateral Russia-Mongolia-China summit will be held on Thursday.

On Friday, the Russian leader will hold bilateral talks with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev.

Agenda of talks with Xi Jinping and Russia-Mongolia-China summit

According to the Kremlin, Putin and Xi Jinping will discuss in Samarkand the bilateral agenda with an emphasis on economic cooperation, as well as regional and international issues. The Kremlin aide stressed that these talks would have a special importance given the situation in the world. According to Ushakov, this meeting is a "long-awaited personal contact," the second one over the period of the coronavirus pandemic. Their most recent personal meeting was in Beijing, when Putin attended the opening ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games in February, Ushakov recalled. The most recent phone call of the Russian and Chinese leaders was in June, when they discussed a wide range of issues, including the development of military and military-technical ties, an expansion of cooperation on the energy, financial and industrial tracks amid the anti-Russian sanctions imposed by the West. The two leaders pointed out in general that Moscow and Beijing saw eye-to-eye or had close positions on the world stage.

This time, Ukraine will be among the focal points. Ushakov drew attention to China's "balanced approach" to the Ukrainian crisis, noting that Beijing "states explicitly that it understands the reasons that forced Russia to launch a special military operation". Putin and Xi Jinping will also discuss the activities of the SCO and a growing role of the organization in international affairs. No joint documents are expected to be signed following the meeting.

Focusing on the Russia-Mongolia-China summit, Ushakov noted that "this format has proved efficient" and the leaders will keep working in it further. In Samarkand, Putin, Xi Jinping and Mongolian President Uhnaagiin Khurlsukh will discuss further action in line with the roadmap approved in 2015 and the program to create an economic corridor of the three countries approved in 2016.

Earlier in September, Putin met with Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene and Chairman of China’s National People’s Congress (NPC) Standing Committee Li Zhanshu on the sidelines of the Eastern Economic Forum.

Putin’s talks with Iranian leader and prime minister of Pakistan

Putin has seen Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi this year more often than the Chinese leader. Before Samarkand, Putin and Raisi met in January in Moscow. In June, they met in Ashgabat on the margins of the Caspian Summit, and in July, the two leaders met in Tehran at an Astana format summit.

It is expected that the upcoming talks will focus among other issues on the situation around the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) on Iran's nuclear program. Russia is in favor of the return to the nuclear deal the way it was approved in 2015 by UN Security Council Resolution 2231 and will continue efforts towards seeing the situation around the JCPOA "eventually resolved".

In addition, bilateral cooperation between the countries and the issue of granting Iran full membership in the SCO are on the agenda.