MOSCOW: Two dozen world leaders will gather in Russia next week for the BRICS group summit, an alliance of emerging economies that Moscow hopes will challenge the hegemony of the West.
The summit will be the largest in Russia since the Ukraine war started and comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to show that Western attempts to isolate Moscow have failed.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are likely to attend the event in the city of Kazan from October 22 to 24.
Russia has stated that it is also expecting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the event.
The main issues on the agenda of the summit include a BRICS-led payment system to rival SWIFT as well as the escalating tension in the Middle East.
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The United States has already expressed concern about Moscow flexing its diplomatic muscle as the Ukraine conflict intensifies.
Moscow has been strengthening its relations with China, Iran and North Korea – three of Washington’s adversaries. The Kremlin has said it wants international affairs to be guided by international law, “not on rules that are set by individual states, namely the United States.”
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“We believe that BRICS is a prototype of multipolarity, a structure uniting the Southern and Eastern hemispheres on the principles of sovereignty and respect for each other,” Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said.
The BRICS started with four members in 2009 and has since expanded to include several other nations such as South Africa, Egypt and Iran. Turkey, a NATO member in early September expressed its intention to join the bloc.
