RUSSIA – The Russian president Vladimir Putin is in China to participate in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit, as well as the Victory Day Parade scheduled on Wednesday, September 3.

When addressing the summit, Putin said that Russia’s opposition to Kyiv’s NATO membership was the cause of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that Russia seeks a long-term and sustainable solution to the crisis.

He stated that the West’s attempts to draw Ukraine into NATO was a direct threat to Russian security.

He said the Ukraine crisis “did not arise due to an invasion but due to a coup d’etat in Kyiv,” which he blamed on the West.

“We must ensure that the Ukrainian crisis is resolved on a long-term and sustainable basis by addressing the root causes of the crisis,” he added.

Following his face-to-face meeting last month with US President Donald Trump in Alaska, Putin said he discussed the outcome of the summit, which he described as an attempt at “opening a road to peace in Ukraine,” with Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Russia will evaluate proposals of China and India on Ukraine, he added.

Putin and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi are scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting in Tianjin on Monday.

Russia launched a “special military operation” against Kyiv in February 2022, and the war has continued since, resulting in deaths of thousands of people across their border, while millions have been displaced in Ukraine.