Russia's Kazan gets ready for BRICS summit

Kazan, Russia

Kazan, referred to as Russia's third capital, after Moscow and St. Petersburg, is decked up with banners of the BRICS summit, flags, security, and the red and blue of the Russian flag to welcome the leaders of the BRICS countries. The country will not just see the attendance of BRICS leaders from India, China, South Africa, Brazil, Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt, the UAE, and host Russia, but also invited countries. Around 20 world leaders are expected to be present in the city.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has invited neighbouring countries from central Asia, and the Global South, like Sri Lanka. BRICS is a grouping that represents 45% of the world's population, 33% of the world's land mass, and 28% of the world's economy.

President Putin, in a meeting with BRICS media persons ahead of the summit, was quite upbeat on the grouping's future. Quoting Indian PM Narendra Modi, he pointed out that the grouping is non-western and not anti-western. He said, "The Prime Minister of India put it best. He said BRICS is not an anti-Western alliance; it is simply non-Western. This distinction is very important and has great meaning. That is, BRICS does not set itself in opposition to anyone."

The group, which first met at leadership level in 2009 in Russia's Yekaterinburg, emerged in the aftermath of the 2008 financial crisis. The group of leading emerging economies saw its first expansion in 2011 with the inclusion of South Africa, giving the "S" to BRICS, followed by a second major expansion last year with the inclusion of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. More and more countries are keen to become its members. Delhi has supported the process of BRICS expansion and believes that the group can be a strong voice of the global south.

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India, which has been a founding member of the group, is expected to play an important role at this year's summit with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in attendance. This will be the second time he will be visiting Russia this year, the first being for a bilateral visit to Moscow. On the sidelines, the PM will have a bilateral meeting with host Russian President Putin, and is also likely to meet with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian.

However, the question remains if any meeting will happen between PM Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping amid the chill in ties.

Indian foreign secretary Vikram Misri on Monday announced that both sides have agreed on a patrolling agreement at the line of actual control, which leads to disengagement. Last year, both leaders had a brief interaction in South Africa.

For Russia, the aim will be to prove that the BRICS summit is successful. Alternate payments mechanism, expansion of the BRICS through a new category of BRICS partner countries will be one of the key focus areas of the Kazan summit. All in all, it will be a moment for Moscow to tell the world, particularly the west, that it is not isolated amid the Ukraine war and that it has a lot of friends in Asia and the global south.