A three-day summit of the recently expanded BRICS grouping kicked off Tuesday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's government inviting two dozen world leaders to the southwestern Russian city of Kazan.

The summit is the first since the BRICS grouping expanded in 2023, and is also a chance for the Kremlin to show that any political isolation of Russia during its invasion of Ukraine doesn't extend far past NATO's borders. 

Russia's major international partners like Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are joining the summit, which is the largest international gathering hosted by Putin since he launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

Putin greets 'dear friend' Xi

Greeting Xi as his "dear friend" upon his arrival on Tuesday morning, Putin told the Chinese premier: "Russian-Chinese cooperation in world affairs acts as one of the stabilizing factors in the global arena. We intend to further increase coordination in all multilateral platforms to ensure global security and a just world order."

"The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined," Xi responded, praising what he called a "profound friendship" between their two countries.

China and Russia, Xi said, "have continuously deepened and expanded comprehensive strategic coordination and practical cooperation," while the closer ties have "injected strong impetus into the development, revitalization and modernization of the two countries."

Russia and China's partnership, more broadly, seeks to counter what Beijing and Moscow see as the US-dominated world order. China and Russia described their ties as having "no limits," shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

India's Modi calls for peaceful resolution in Ukraine

While receiving Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Putin spoke of Moscow's "strategic relationship" with India. 

"Russian-Indian relations have the character of a particularly privileged strategic partnership and continue to actively develop," Putin told Modi, after the pair were filmed shaking hands and embracing.

Modi said that he wanted a return to peace in Ukraine and supported efforts for that during talks with Putin.

"We have been in constant touch over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine," Modi said, and added: "We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability."

Both India and China have provided Russia with economic support since Moscow orchestrated the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

 

South Africa's Ramaphosa says Russia a 'valued ally'

Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he considered Moscow to be a "valued ally" during talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"We continue to see Russia as a valued ally, as a valued friend, who supported us right from the beginning: from the days of our struggle against Apartheid, right through to now," Ramaphosa said.

South Africa has abstained from UN resolutions condemning Russia's invasion of Ukriane but has called for an end to the conflict.

Putin said Russia's relations with South Africa were centered around "strategic partnership, equality, and mutual respect."

"And, of course, Russia attatches particular importance to strengthening relations with the countries of the African continent," Putin added.

Which are the BRICS countries?

The original acronym BRICS stands for the five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is fashioned as an alternative to the Western-led economic order seen in the likes of the G7 — a group of seven wealthy Western states including the US and Germany among others. 

The BRICS group decided at its 2023 summit to try to expand its ranks. 

Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were all invited to join, although Argentine President Javier Milei declined after winning the election, saying he wanted to take more of a pro-Western course.

Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said 36 countries had confirmed participation, and that more than 20 would send heads of state. Putin is expected to hold some 20 bilateral meetings, Ushakov said, and the summit could turn into "the largest foreign policy event ever held" on Russian soil.

Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian told a press briefing that this year's summit marks "the beginning of greater BRICS cooperation," adding:

"China stands ready to work with other parties to strive for the steady and sustained development of greater BRICS cooperation, open a new era for the Global South to seek strength through solidarity and jointly promote world peace and development."

Ukraine criticizes possible UN attendance 

Ahead of the event, Ukraine's Foreign Ministry criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his reported plans to attend the summit, after Russian officials said earlier this month that the UN chief had told Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he would be in Kazan. 

Kyiv said Guterres had declined its invitation to a peace summit in Switzerland, but accepted an invitation to Kazan by "war criminal" Putin. 

However, deputy UN spokesman Farhan Haq told reporters on Monday that Guterres' future travel plans were not yet set.

kb,rc/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)