Tuesday marked the beginning of a three-day summit of the Brics group, an alliance of emerging economies that the Kremlin hopes will challenge Western “hegemony.” Twenty-two world leaders gathered in Russia for the event.
With the culmination, the greatest such gathering in Russia since it requested troops into Ukraine, President Vladimir Putin is trying to show Western endeavors to detach Moscow over the more than long term hostile have fizzled.
Russia’s key partners, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, are scheduled to attend the gathering, which will be held in the western city of Kazan from October 22 to 24.
Russian media reported that Putin, Modi, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had already arrived in Kazan. Chinese state broadcaster CCTV reported that Xi had also arrived.
The expansion of the Brics group, which includes core members Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, has become a cornerstone of Moscow’s foreign policy.
The main topics on the agenda are the escalating conflict in the Middle East and Putin’s idea for a Brics-led payment system to compete with SWIFT, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in 2022.
The gathering has been hailed by the Kremlin as a diplomatic success that will help it form an alliance to oppose Western “hegemony.”
In front of the gathering, Modi lauded what he called the “unique and favored key association” among Moscow and New Delhi, and said issues including environmental change would be on the plan.
