Russia's close ally Belarus on Thursday officially joined the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), becoming the tenth member of the regional group led by Beijing and Moscow.
"The Republic of Belarus became a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation," the summit organisers said on social media.
Previously, Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese leader Xi Jinping on July 3 that relations between Beijing and Moscow were stronger than ever before.
The pair met on the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in the Kazakh capital of Astana – a regional political and economic bloc that the two leaders see as a counterweight to US “hegemony” in international affairs.
Putin hailed the group as “strengthening its role as one of the key pillars of a fair multipolar world order” in opening remarks of a meeting with Xi that were published on Russian state TV.
Alongside Russia and China, four Central Asian states, India, Iran and Pakistan are members of the SOC.
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