Financial co-operation and Brics expansion on table as Putin hosts leaders
The Brics summit in Kazan is intended to push back against Western dominance in the world’s affairs.
Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has hosted China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi and other world leaders at a summit of the Brics bloc of developing economies – part of the Kremlin’s efforts to challenge Western global clout.
Speaking at the start of the Brics meeting, Mr Putin underlined deepening co-operation in the financial sector as part of its agenda.
He said participants were also set to discuss a range of international issues including the settlement of regional conflicts, along with the expansion of the Brics group of countries.
“Brics strategy on the global arena conforms with the strivings of the main part of the global community, the so-called global majority,” Mr Putin said.
The alliance that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and several others have expressed an interest in joining.
The Kremlin has cast Brics as a counterbalance to the Western-dominated global order and redoubled its efforts to court the countries of the Global South after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network Swift and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners.
Mr Xi and Mr Putin announced a “no-limits” partnership weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022.
They have already met twice this year, in Beijing in May and at a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation summit in Kazakhstan in July.
During Tuesday’s meeting with Mr Xi, Mr Putin described the relations between Moscow and Beijing as “one of the main stabilising factors on the world arena”.
He vowed to “expand co-ordination on all multilateral forums for the sake of global stability and a fair world order”.
Mr Xi, hailing the “unprecedented character” of Russia-China ties, said: “Amid tectonic transformations unseen for centuries, the international situation is undergoing serious changes and upheavals.”
Russia’s co-operation with India has also flourished as New Delhi sees Moscow as a time-tested partner since Cold War times despite Russia’s close ties with India’s main rival, China.
“We fully support the quickest establishment of peace and stability,” said Mr Modi, who last visited Russia in July.
On Thursday, Mr Putin is also set to meet with United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who will be making his first visit to Russia in more than two years.
Mr Guterres has repeatedly criticised Russia’s actions in Ukraine.
