"SHANGHAI FIVE" AND SHANGHAI COOPERATION ORGANIZATION (SCO) FORMATION PROCESS
The author covers the formation process of Shanghai Five and its transformation into the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO), shows how the settlement of frontier regulation questions between the former Soviet republics, on the one hand, and China, on the other hand, developed into more extended collaboration of these states on such major directions as regional security assurance including antiterrorism protection, struggle with extremism and drug traffic as well as economic collaboration and this collaboration, in its turn, led to a new international organization formation - SCO, which plays an important role in the modern world.