Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered remarks today to a combined meeting of defense ministers of the Commonwealth of Independent States and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, in which he said that great changes are coming to the world, but that those changes are accompanied by great danger. “Cooperation as part of the SCO and the CIS enables us to attain a wide range of objectives, primarily having to do with protecting our countries from external threats and ensuring global and regional stability while relying on mutual respect and consideration of each other’s interests,” he said. “This is especially important today as new drastic challenges are emerging, and major geopolitical shifts are taking place. The outlines of a truly multipolar world order are appearing before our eyes: New development centers are being formed in Asia, Africa and Latin America, which are increasingly defending their national interests, protecting their sovereignty, and the right to choose their own development trajectory. It is simply impossible to resist these objective historic processes.”