MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin congratulated Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for organising this Summit and praised the effort India has done while holding the SCO Council of Heads of States summit in virtual form.

I want to thank PM Modi for arranging this Summit,” he remarked. The strategic alliance with India will be strengthened by the execution of many of the papers and resolutions that were prepared for this summit, and Russia supports the New Delhi declaration’s comprehensive approach to global concerns.

“Russia supports the New Delhi declaration which gives a consolidated approach to international issues. We will continue to strengthen ties with SCO member states,” Putin said.

Speaking further, Putin also mentioned Ukraine and noted that, for quite a while, external forces had been carrying out a project aimed at transforming Ukraine into “a hostile state; the anti-Russia.”

“In fact, there is a hybrid war being waged against us, which involves illegal sanctions on Russia that are unprecedented in scale. I would like to point out that Russia has been and will continue to confidently counter external pressure, sanctions and provocative incitements,” the Russian head of state emphasized.

He added that, for quite a while, external forces had been carrying out a project aimed at transforming Ukraine into “a hostile state; the anti-Russia,” President Vladimir Putin said at the summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), according to the Russian news agency, TASS.

“For eight years, they pumped it [Ukraine] full of weapons, condoned aggression against the peaceful population of Donbas, and turned a blind eye to the enforced propagation of neo-Nazi ideas. And all of this was being done to put the security of Russia under threat and put a check on the development of our country,” Putin pointed out during the Summit.

He continued, “The current state of Afghanistan is another area of the SCO’s attention. Unfortunately, nothing is changing for the better. The SCO must prioritise fighting terrorism, radicalization, extremism, and drug trafficking.

The chiefs of state from all SCO countries virtually participated in the conclusion of the summit, which was presided over by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

On September 16 of last year, at the SCO summit in Samarkand, India took over as the organization’s rotating chairman. ‘SECURE-SCO’ is the focus of India’s 2023 SCO Chairmanship. Xi Jinping, the president of China, and Shehbaz Sharif, the prime minister of Pakistan, were among those who attended the conference.

(This story has not been edited by Bharat Express staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)