Six Nations Formalize Regional Security Group
The leaders of Russia, China and four Central Asian nations anointed their security group as a full-fledged international organization and moved to strengthen cooperation against terrorism as they met for a summit in St. Petersburg.
President Vladimir V. Putin tried to allay China’s concerns about Russia’s push for closer ties with the U.S. and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.
Putin, Chinese President Jiang Zemin and leaders of former Soviet republics Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan signed the charter of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization--a document giving the group formal international legal status.
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