With Modi in chair, Putin uses SCO summit to dismiss speculation about him losing control

Putin's speech and emphasis on Russia's unity at the meet appeared to show how keen he is to remove any doubts about his own authority.

President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday sought to dismiss speculation about him losing control over Russia as he joined the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) through video link, making his first appearance in an international forum after the rebellion by the Wagner Group.

The SCO virtual summit was chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who avoided referring to the Russia-Ukraine conflict in his opening remarks.

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The summit saw Modi joining Putin, Chinese President Xi Jinping as well as other leaders of the bloc to denounce unilateral sanctions, thus tacitly criticising the United States and other western nations for imposing economic curbs on Russia after it launched its “special military operations” in Ukraine.

They (the SCO leaders) stressed in a joint statement issued at the end of the summit that the unilateral application of economic sanctions other than the ones approved by the United Nations Security Council were incompatible with the principles of international law and had a negative impact on the third countries and international economic relations.

With Modi, who was recently hosted by President Joe Biden in Washington DC, chairing the summit, Putin slammed the US and the rest of the West for sending weapons to Ukraine and pursuing an anti-Russia agenda for a long time. “And all these were done in order to jeopardise Russia's security and stifle our country's development. We are now, in fact, being subjected to a hybrid war, with illegitimate anti-Russian sanctions that are unprecedented in scale. I would like to stress that Russia is confidently resisting and will continue to resist external pressure, sanctions and provocations,” he said.

He said that Russia continued to develop steadily. “The Russian people are more consolidated than ever. The unity and high responsibility for the fate of the Fatherland was clearly demonstrated by the Russian political circles and the whole of society in uniting against the attempted armed rebellion,” he said, signalling that the recent rebellion by the Wagner Group could not weaken his control over Russia.

He thanked the SCO leaders, who had expressed their support for the Russian leadership in defending the constitutional order, lives and security of its citizens.