the sco has served as a platform for larger military announcements by members. during the 2007 war games in russia, with leaders of sco member states in attendance including chinese president hu jintao, russia's president vladimir putin used the occasion to take advantage of a captive audience. russian strategic bombers, he said, would resume regular long-range patrols for the first time since the cold war. "starting today, such tours of duty will be conducted regularly and on the strategic scale", putin said. "our pilots have been grounded for too long. they are happy to start a new life".