MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will hold a meeting with Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Zhang Ming, who heads the SCO observer mission for the upcoming presidential election in Russia, on March 18, Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing.
"On March 18, Russia’s top diplomat will meet with Secretary General of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization Zhang Ming. He heads the observer mission from the Shanghai Cooperation Organization for the Russian presidential election," she said.
The diplomat noted that the Russian foreign minister and the SCO Secretary General plan to "discuss a wide range of issues of the organization's activities and prospects for its development." "In the context of upcoming events at the highest and highest levels, special attention is meant to be paid to practical aspects of the comprehensive improvement of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, countering growing challenges and threats to security, promoting trade, economic, cultural and humanitarian ties," Zakharova added.
"Now, of course, the central attention in our domestic political life is focused on the upcoming Russian presidential election, which, by the way, are already taking place in the form of early voting, and, of course, our foreign ministry is actively involved in this due to the fact that polling stations are deployed abroad," the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman added.
Earlier, Russia’s Special Presidential Envoy for SCO Affairs Bakhtiyer Khakimov said at a briefing that SCO Secretary General Zhang Ming will head to Moscow on March 14 to observe the presidential election in Russia.
The Russian Federation Council, or upper house of parliament, officially designated March 17, 2024 as the day of the presidential election. The Russian Central Election Commission (CEC) then announced that voting will take place over three days on March 15-17. Four candidates will vie for the top office, namely New People party nominee Vladislav Davankov; self-nominated candidate and incumbent President Vladimir Putin; Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) nominee Leonid Slutsky; and Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) nominee Nikolay Kharitonov.