Next week, two dozen world leaders will gather in Russia for a BRICS summit, a meeting of emerging economies that the Kremlin hopes will challenge Western dominance.
The summit, taking place in Kazan from October 22 to 24, will be Russia’s largest international event since the start of the Ukraine conflict. Russian President Vladimir Putin is looking to demonstrate that Western efforts to isolate Moscow over its two-and-a-half-year military campaign in Ukraine have failed.
Among those expected to attend are UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is also anticipated to join the event.
Moscow has prioritized expanding BRICS—an alliance of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—as a cornerstone of its foreign policy. Key issues on the agenda include Putin’s proposal for a BRICS-led payment system to rival SWIFT, the international financial network from which Russian banks were excluded in 2022, and discussions on the escalating conflict in the Middle East.
The Kremlin has promoted the summit as a diplomatic success, positioning it as part of a broader strategy to build an alliance capable of countering Western “hegemony.”
While the United States has downplayed BRICS as a potential “geopolitical rival,” it remains wary of Moscow’s growing diplomatic clout as the war in Ukraine drags on.
Russia has made gains on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine this year while strengthening ties with countries like China, Iran, and North Korea—nations that are adversaries of Washington.
By hosting the BRICS summit, the Kremlin aims to demonstrate that Russia is not isolated but has strong partners, according to Moscow-based political analyst Konstantin Kalachev.
Putin, who was issued an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in 2023 over the deportation of Ukrainian children, skipped the last BRICS summit in South Africa, an ICC member. This time, the Kremlin hopes to project Russia as an alternative to Western pressure and proof that a multipolar world is becoming a reality, Kalachev added.
Putin has consistently accused the West of “provoking” Russia into its Ukraine invasion, rejecting the notion that it was an imperial land grab. The Kremlin has called for international law to govern global affairs, rather than rules imposed by individual states, particularly the United States.
“BRICS is a prototype of multipolarity, a structure that unites the Southern and Eastern hemispheres based on principles of sovereignty and mutual respect,” said Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov. He added, “BRICS is gradually, brick by brick, building a bridge toward a more democratic and just world order.”
