Eurotopics.net

According to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan his country is targeting membership of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), whose members include China, Russia and India. After the SCO summit in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Erdoğan said that membership would be discussed next year. This would make Turkey the first Nato state to join the large Asian alliance.

President Vladimir Putin's announcement of the partial mobilisation of Russian forces and nuclear threats have triggered growing concern about a further escalation and increased suffering in the war against Ukraine. Putin knows very well that a nuclear war should never be fought and cannot be won, Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday. Commentators see Russia weakened.

Thousands of people took to the streets in Russia on Wednesday to voice their discontent over Putin's announcement of a partial mobilisation. More than 500 people were arrested in Moscow and over 550 in St. Petersburg, according to the human rights organisation OVD-Info. Commentators are at odds about the extent to which the protests reflect the general mood in the country.