Russian President Vladimir Putin announced during a meeting with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Samarkand, Uzbekistan that “25 percent of Russian gas supplies to Turkey will be paid for in rubles.”

This meeting is taking place on the sidelines of the 22nd summit meeting of the leaders of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in the historical part of the city. The action takes place away from the lenses of the media, in the conference center where the summit was held. The summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization ended earlier on Friday with the adoption of the “Samarkand Declaration” by member states.

The summit was attended by the leaders of the member states, Russian Vladimir Putin, Chinese Xi Jinping, Kazakh Kasem Zhomart Tokayev, Kyrgyz Sadr Jabarov, Tajikistan Emomali Rahman, Pakistani Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President of the host country Mirziyoyev.

The leaders of the observer countries were also present, including Belarusian Alexander Lukashenko, Mongolian Okhnangin Khursuh and Iranian Ebrahim Raisi. It was also attended by the heads of invited countries, namely Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Turkmen Sardar Berdimuhamedov and Azerbaijani Ilham Aliyev.