Moscow aims to cooperate with Beijing in the field of artificial intelligence and digital innovation, Russian President Vladimir Putin told China's Xi Jinping on Monday as the leaders met in Kyrgyzstan. They arrived in the central Asian country for a two-day summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO), a regional bloc that seeks to serve as a counter-balance to the West. Russia, with its troops bogged down in Ukraine, has deepened ties with its main oil customer China, which has never condemned Moscow for its four-and-a-half-year invasion. "Cooperation is successfully developing on all fronts," Putin told Xi ahead of their talks. They last met in May in Beijing. "Digital innovations, including in artificial intelligence technologies, are also opening up new opportunities for the economic development of our countries," Putin said. The Kremlin has in the past months sought to tighten its control over the online sphere, imposing intermittent mass internet shutdowns and restrictions on popular messaging apps. Moscow is pushing Russians to embrace the state-backed Max messenger platform -- an unencrypted super-app similar to China's WeChat that critics say raises privacy and snooping concerns. It has repeatedly threatened foreign-owned sites with bans, part of what rights advocates say is a broader attempt by authorities to control and monitor internet use.
