A three-day summit of the recently expanded BRICS grouping kicks off Tuesday, with Russian President Vladimir Putin's government inviting two dozen world leaders to the southwestern Russian city of Kazan.
The summit is the first since the BRICS grouping expanded in 2023, and is also a chance for the Kremlin to show any political isolation of Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine doesn't extend far past NATO's borders.
Russia's major international partners like Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan were scheduled to join the summit, which is the largest international gathering hosted by Putin since he launched the war on Ukraine in February 2022.
India and China top Russian partners
Ahead of his departure for Kazan, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said early on Tuesday that India "attaches immense importance to BRICS."
"India attaches immense importance to BRICS, and I look forward to extensive discussions on a wide range of subjects. I also look forward to meeting various leaders there," he said.
Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Kazan Tuesday morning, with Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Lin Jian telling a press briefing this year's summit marks "the beginning of greater BRICS cooperation."
The spokesperson added that Xi would have "in-depth exchanges" of views with other leaders on "the international landscape, the BRICS practical cooperation, the development of the BRICS mechanism and important issues of mutual interest."
"China stands ready to work with other parties to strive for the steady and sustained development of greater BRICS cooperation, open a new era for the Global South to seek strength through solidarity and jointly promote world peace and development," he said.
Both India and China have provided Russia with economic support since Moscow orchestrated the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia and China's partnership, more broadly, seeks to counter what Beijing and Moscow see as the US-dominated world order. China and Russia described their ties as having "no limits," shortly before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
What is 'BRICS?'
The original acronym BRICS stands for the five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. It is fashioned as an alternative to the Western-led economic order seen in groupings like the G7.
The group decided at its 2023 summit to try to expand its ranks.
Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were all invited to join, although Argentine President Javier Milei declined after winning the election, saying he wanted to take more of a pro-Western course.
Putin's foreign policy aide Yuri Ushakov said 36 countries had confirmed participation, and that more than 20 would send heads of state. Putin is expected to hold some 20 bilateral meetings, Ushakov said, and the summit could turn into "the largest foreign policy event ever held" on Russian soil.
Ukraine criticizes possible UN attendance
Ukraine's Foreign Ministry criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his reported plans to attend the summit, after Russian officials said earlier this month that the UN chief had told Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he would be in Kazan.
Kyiv said Guterres had declined its invitation to a peace summit in Switzerland, but accepted an invitation to Kazan by "war criminal" Putin.
However, deputy UN spokesman Farham Haq told reporters on Monday that Guterres' future travel plans were not yet set.