Putin is hosting the summit to show the West that he cannot keep Russia off the world stage
Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet this week with China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Massoud Pezeshkian, defying predictions that the war in Ukraine and an international arrest warrant would make Putin a pariah.
They will all be in the Russian city of Kazan on Tuesday for a meeting of the BRICS bloc of emerging economies.
The alliance, which aims to counter the Western-led world order, initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but is rapidly expanding. Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia joined in January; Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied, and a number of others have expressed interest in membership.
Russian officials already see the meeting as a huge success. Putin’s foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said 36 countries had confirmed participation and more than 20 would send heads of state. Mr. Putin will hold about 20 bilateral meetings, Mr. Ushakov said, and the summit could become “the biggest foreign policy event ever held” on Russian soil.
– AFP
