Gathering is the biggest international event in Russia since Ukraine conflict began

The leaders of China, South Africa and India arrived in Russia on Tuesday for the BRICS summit of emerging economies. The meeting will see president Vladimir Putin host more than 20 heads of state, in a move that defies expectations that the Ukraine war and sanctions would isolate Russia.

The Russian leader wants to cast himself as a global statesman, even as the U.S. and its Western allies try to isolate him.

For Russian President Vladimir Putin, three-day meeting also offers powerful way to demonstrate failure of US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine

Putin stayed away from last year’s Brics summit after South Africa warned it would have to comply with an arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine issued by the International Criminal Court in March last year. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin calls Chinese President Xi Jinping his ‘dear friend’ Tuesday at a BRICS summit meeting hosted in Kazan

China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, and other world leaders arrived Tuesday in Russia for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies. The Kremlin hopes to turn the summit into a rallying point for defying Western influence in global affairs.