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.
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 remain 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.”
“I look forward to extensive discussions on a wide range of subjects. I also look forward to meeting various leaders there,” he added.
