Morning Edition · Monday, June 15, 2026

Shanghai Cooperation Organisation Reports 20 Applications to Join

Moscow points to growing interest in the bloc as Russia and partners build trade and security arrangements outside Western institutions.

The secretary general of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) said the bloc has received 20 applications from states seeking to join or deepen ties, the Russian agency RIA Novosti reported. The SCO, led by China and Russia, has become a vehicle for coordination among states outside the Western alliance system.

The reported interest aligns with a broader effort to build commerce that is less exposed to Western sanctions. TASS reported that a deputy Vietnamese foreign minister called for expanded cooperation between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and Russia, pointing to long-standing ties between Hanoi and Moscow.

Both items reflect a slow reordering of economic relationships. Russia has been directing its trade toward regional blocs and partners in Asia to protect its commerce from sanctions, and growing membership interest in groupings like the SCO gives that effort an institutional form.

For the dollar-based order, the trend is gradual rather than sudden. None of these arrangements displaces Western finance today, but each adds a route for trade, settlement and diplomacy that does not run through Washington or Brussels. The accumulation of such routes is what a move toward a more multipolar system looks like in practice.

Veracity: Plausible

60/100

If true, who benefits: Russia and China, which present membership demand as evidence that a non-Western order is gaining institutional weight.
The nuance: SCO officials have spoken of rising interest, but the specific count of 20 is sourced only to Russian state agencies and blurs distinct tiers (full members, observers, dialogue partners), so "applications to join" overstates what is largely interest in deeper ties (Lowy Institute).

An open-source-intelligence read of how likely this story is true with its real nuance, not a judgment of any outlet. It assesses the claim, weighing independent and adversarial reporting.

What this means

Expanding membership and partnerships in non-Western blocs build the institutional systems for trade and settlement that bypass Western networks. The shift is incremental, but it steadily reduces the leverage that sanctions can exert over time.

What to watch

Which states formalize SCO membership or partner status.
Concrete trade or payment agreements emerging from ASEAN-Russia talks.
Use of non-dollar settlement within these arrangements.

Observations to monitor, not financial advice.

2 sources

Synthesized from: RIA Novosti · TASS