MOSCOW: Two dozen world leaders will meet in Russia tomorrow (on Tuesday) for a summit of the Brics group, an alliance of emerging economies that the Kremlin hopes will challenge Western ‘hegemony’.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to join the event in the city of Kazan from Oct 22 to 24. Russia has said it is expecting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well. Moscow has made expanding the Brics group — an acronym for core members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — a pillar of its foreign policy.

The main issues on the agenda include Putin’s idea for a Brics-led payment system to rival Swift, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in 2022, as well as the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

By gathering Brics in Kazan, the Kremlin “aims to show that not only is Russia not isolated, it has partners and allies,” Moscow-based political analyst Konstan­tin Kalachev said.

The Kremlin has said it wants global affairs to be guided by international law, “not on rules that are set by individual states, namely the US”.

“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.

“What Brics is doing is gradually — brick by brick — building a bridge to a more democratic and just world order,” he added.

The West believes Russia is using the group to expand its influence and promote its own narratives about the Ukraine conflict.

Published in Dawn, October 21st, 2024