India announced on Sunday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend a regional summit in Uzbekistan that, according to Russia, will have one-on-one meetings between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, which will include representatives from China, Russia, India, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan, is scheduled to take place in Samarkand on September 15 and 16.
Putin and Xi will meet at the summit, according to the Russian envoy to China, who made the announcement on Wednesday. This will be the Chinese president's first journey outside of the country since the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak.
The meeting was not immediately confirmed by Beijing's foreign ministry, whose spokesperson said during a routine press conference that "there is no information to share" on the subject..
Whether Modi would meet privately with Putin, Xi, or Shehbaz Sharif for the first time since taking office as prime minister of Pakistan in April was not specified in the Indian government's statement on Sunday.
India, like China, buys the majority of its weapons from Russia and has increased its imports of Russian oil while refusing to denounce Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.
India and China have had poor relations ever since fighting on their disputed Himalayan border in 2020 caused the lives of at least 20 Indian and four Chinese soldiers. Modi and Xi have not had bilateral discussions since 2019.
India is a part of the Quad, a group of nations that includes the US, Japan, and Australia and is seen as a stronghold against China.
