The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) virtual summit chaired by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi took place two weeks after his state visit to Washington on June 23, when US President Joe Biden named India "among the [US’] closest partners in the world." In addition to Modi, the summit was attended by Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and the leaders of four Central Asian nations (the fifth, Turkmenistan, is not a member of the SCO). They were joined by Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi.
Under crisis conditions, the SCO is demonstrating the organization’s increased importance in international politics, says Timofey Bordachev, program director at the Valdai Discussion Club. "Countries are drawn to stable international constructs. There are no serious contradictions among the SCO participants (even though Modi hinted that some countries, likely meaning Pakistan, were becoming a haven for international terrorism - Vedomosti)," the expert said.
He added that, today, the SCO offers a political venue for maintaining trust-based relations within the framework of which the parties can openly discuss each other’s interests. For example, Putin thanked the summit participants for supporting Russian authorities during the attempted armed mutiny by the Wagner Private Military Company (PMC). During the mutiny and its immediate aftermath, several leaders of SCO countries, including China’s Xi, Kazakhstan President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev and Iran’s Raisi, contacted their Russian counterpart. According to Vasily Kashin, director of the Center for Comprehensive European and International Studies at the Higher School of Economics (HSE University), it is precisely the fact that Iran formally joined the organization at the summit that is most indicative of the SCO’s growing clout. "Tehran is an important international player for all of the organization’s participants: it is a major supplier of oil to China and India as well as Russia’s main partner concerning regional security issues. Its membership will expand the organization’s significance and increase its opportunities for coordinating its policy on such tracks as Afghanistan," the expert noted.
Additionally, anti-Russian sanctions have boosted the SCO’s importance from the point of view of Russia’s economic interaction with other members, Kashin adds.
"The West’s policy, on the one hand, has created incentives for seeking alternative methods for executing financial settlements between countries. On the other hand, [it has given grounds] for activating ties with alternative economic centers. We saw this last year, when Turkey and Saudi Arabia displayed interest in the SCO," Kashin said.