epa10185675 (L-R) Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh pose for a photo during a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the 22nd Meeting of the Council of Heads of State of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, 15 September 2022. The SCO is an international alliance founded in 2001 in Shanghai and composed of China, India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and four Observer States interested in acceding to full membership - Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia.  EPA/ALEXANDR DEMYANCHUK/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN POOL MANDATORY CREDIT