Belarus joins SCO

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.