Putin and Xi to attend SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan
Leaders from Russia, China, and Iran will meet for a two-day summit hosted by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.
AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made
Participants of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) Summit 2025 pose for photos with Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Meijiang Convention and Exhibition Centre in Tianjin, China. (File photo: Pool via Reuters/Suo Takekuma)
Photograph: Channel News Asia (embedded from source)
What this story says
- Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping are expected to attend a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit in Kyrgyzstan from August 31.
- The summit will also be attended by leaders from Iran and India, among other member states.
- Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov confirmed Putin is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and China's Xi Jinping.
- The meeting occurs during the ongoing Ukraine invasion, the conflict between Washington and Tehran, and trade disputes involving US tariffs.
Who covered it
Percentages are shares of the 9 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. Coverage measured .
Trust
42/100
Craft
65/100
Hype
20/100
9 sources · methodology
Leaders from Russia and China, Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping respectively, are expected to attend a two-day summit in Kyrgyzstan beginning Monday, August 31. The meeting is hosted by the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional bloc that includes Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries, and Belarus. Leaders from Iran and India are also expected to attend.
Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov stated that Putin is scheduled to hold separate bilateral discussions with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and China's Xi Jinping during the summit. The SCO summit takes place against a backdrop of international tensions, including the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the conflict between Washington and Tehran, and trade wars involving US tariffs on Chinese and Indian goods.
Disagreements in reporting
The timing of the summit is reported differently. Channel News Asia, CTV News, France24, and Radio France Internationale state the summit begins on Monday, August 31. However, Anadolu Ajansı, EADaily, and news-pravda.com indicate the summit takes place on August 31 and September 1.
What the coverage left out
None of the right-rated digests mention the specific date the summit begins, only that it is scheduled for August 31 and September 1. The left-rated digest does not specify the exact dates of the summit.
Still developing. We have re-checked which outlets are covering this 1 time, most recently on 29 Aug 2026, 04:00, and will add the sides that appear.
How other outlets pictured it
Which photograph to run is each newsroom’s own choice. The leaning beside a name is that outlet’s published rating, not a claim that the pictures divide along it. Every picture is shown from the outlet’s own server and links to the article it ran in.
How each side covered it
Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.
Left
1 rated outlet
- The Al-Monitor digest noted the summit is part of a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West. It also mentioned that around a dozen heads of state would attend the Bishkek meeting to mark 25 years of the SCO. The digest stated the group brings together Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries, and others.
Centre
4 rated outlets
- Channel News Asia and CTV News, in their full reports, highlighted that the SCO is a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West. Both reports mentioned that around a dozen heads of states would attend the Bishkek summit to mark 25 years of the organisation. They detailed the SCO's membership, including Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Iran, four Central Asian countries, and Moscow-allied Belarus. Both outlets noted that Putin and Xi have previously used SCO summits to promote their vision of a multipolar world and present a united front against the West. They also pointed out that the summit occurs four-and-a-half years into Moscow's Ukraine invasion and six months into the war between Washington and Tehran. The reports included that Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Iran's Pezeshkian and China's Xi, as stated by Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov. Both Channel News Asia and CTV News mentioned that Russia and Iran, among the most sanctioned states, have deepened military and economic ties during the Ukraine war. They also reported that US President Donald Trump has warned Moscow and Beijing against arming Iran. The digests from France24 and Radio France Internationale stated that leaders of Russia, China, and Iran were expected at the summit, which is part of a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West.
Right
4 rated outlets
- The Straits Times digest stated the summit is part of a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West. The Anadolu Ajansı digest reported that Yury Ushakov said the Russian president would hold a number of bilateral meetings in Bishkek before travelling to Vladivostok. EADaily and news-pravda.com digests focused on Putin's schedule, with EADaily mentioning Russia's Assistant President for International Affairs, Yuri Ushakov, publishing details of Vladimir Putin's schedule. The news-pravda.com digest noted the Russian president's visit to Bishkek for the SCO summit and his attendance at the Eastern Economic Forum.
Questions about this coverage
- How did the left and right cover Putin and Xi to attend SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan?
- Of the 9 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 11% are rated left, 45% are rated centre, 44% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
- Is Putin and Xi to attend SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan left or right?
- Too few of the outlets on this story carry a published leaning rating to say. 9 of them do, and this site does not characterise a field under 12: at that size one newsroom filing moves the share by ten points. The percentages above are the count as it stands.
- Is the coverage of Putin and Xi to attend SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan biased?
- Putin and Xi to attend SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan is one event reported by 9 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
- Which outlets covered Putin and Xi to attend SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan?
- 9 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
- When is the SCO summit taking place?
- The summit is scheduled to take place in Kyrgyzstan over two days, starting on Monday, August 31. Some reports specify the dates as August 31 and September 1.
- Who is attending the SCO summit?
- Leaders from Russia, China, and Iran are expected to attend, along with leaders from India and other member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation. This includes four Central Asian countries and Belarus.
- What bilateral meetings are planned?
- Kremlin spokesman Yuri Ushakov stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin is expected to hold separate bilateral talks with Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian and China's President Xi Jinping during the summit.
- What is the geopolitical context of the summit?
- The summit occurs amidst the ongoing invasion of Ukraine, the conflict between Washington and Tehran, and trade disputes involving US tariffs on Chinese and Indian goods. The SCO is described as a regional bloc seeking to be a counter-influence to the West.
Read it at the source
9 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.
Left
1Centre
4- Leaders of Russia, China, Iran to attend summit in Kyrgyzstan (opens Channel News Asia in a new tab)
Channel News Asia — is Channel News Asia biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Leaders of Russia, China, Iran to attend summit in Kyrgyzstan (opens CTV News in a new tab)
- Leaders of Russia, China, Iran to attend summit in Kyrgyzstan (opens France24 in a new tab)
- Leaders of Russia, China, Iran to attend summit in Kyrgyzstan (opens Radio France Internationale in a new tab)
Radio France Internationale — is Radio France Internationale biased? Our profile of this outlet
Right
4- Leaders of Russia, China, Iran to attend summit in Kyrgyzstan (opens The Straits Times in a new tab)
The Straits Times — is The Straits Times biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Putin aide says Russian president to visit Kyrgyzstan for SCO summit (opens Anadolu Ajansı in a new tab)
Anadolu Ajansı — is Anadolu Ajansı biased? Our profile of this outlet
- Putin Graph: Turkey at SCO Summit and Indonesia at VEF (opens EADaily in a new tab)
- IN BRIEF: Major speech at EEF and series of int’l meetings at SCO summit: Putin’s schedule (opens news-pravda.com in a new tab)
news-pravda.com — is news-pravda.com biased? Our profile of this outlet
Not rated
0No outlet in this group ran the story.
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