NATO enlargement has to be addressed for Ukraine peace: Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin, after talking with China's Xi Jinping and India's Narendra Modi, said on Monday the issue of NATO's eastward enlargement would have to be addressed for there to be sustainable peace in Ukraine. On the sidelines of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) meeting in Tianjin, Modi held Putin's hand as they walked towards Chinese President Xi. All three smiled as they spoke, surrounded by translators.

Speaking at the summit, Putin said the West had tried to bring Ukraine into the West's orbit and then sought to entice the former Soviet republic into the U.S.-led NATO military alliance. Putin said he had detailed to Xi on Sunday the achievements of his talks with Trump and the work "already underway" to resolve the conflict and would provide more detail in two-way meetings with the Chinese leader and others.

China and India are by far the biggest purchasers of crude from Russia, the world's second largest exporter. Trump has imposed additional tariffs on India over the purchases but there is no sign yet that either India or China are going to stop purchasing Russian oil, a key export of Russia's war economy.

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged Shanghai Cooperation Organisation members to leverage their “mega-scale market”, while unveiling his ambition for a new global security and economic order that poses a challenge to the United States. The Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) has set a model for a new type of international relations, Xi said in opening remarks addressing more than 20 world leaders at a two-day summit held in northern China’s port city Tianjin.Xi also called on organisation partners to “oppose Cold War mentality and bloc confrontation” and to support multilateral trade systems, an apparent dig at U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff war which has disproportionately affected developing economies such as India, whose exports were hit with a 50% levy last week.