Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin are set to meet Wednesday for the second time since May to demonstrate their alliance against the U.S. and its Western allies. 

The pair will reunite for the annual session of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) – a group founded in part to counter Western domination – in Kazakhstan along with other world leaders. 

Apart from Putin, Xi and the host, Kazak President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, leaders from Pakistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Iran’s acting President Mohammad Mokhbar will be at the SCO conference. 

In a similar geopolitical quagmire, India is attempting to balance its ties with Russia while also maintaining its alliances with the West.

Modi is reported to be missing this year’s SCO conference due to a parliamentary session. But his attendance at the G-7 summit last month – an international group that India is not a member of – has sparked speculation that the decision not to attend was made due to Modi’s attempt to walk a geopolitical tight rope. 

Nations like Kazakhstan will use the SCO conference to bolster economic and political ties with their neighboring nations.

Putin is expected to use the meetup as another opportunity to show that Russia is not isolated from the international community despite Western sanctions and global rebuke over the war in Ukraine. 

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres will also be in attendance to continue communications with all major world players.