KAZAN, Russia, Oct 23,2024: China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi and some other BRICS leaders discussed the war in Ukraine with President Vladimir Putin as the Kremlin chief chaired a major summit aimed at showing Western attempts to isolate Russia have failed.
BRICS is now a group that accounts for 45% of the world’s population and 35% of the global economy.
But there are divisions and concerns even among members about how such a vast grouping can expand so swiftly while preserving some sense of geopolitical purpose and achieve any real economic results.
Putin, whose administration has dismissed war crimes allegations against him as political, opened the summit on Wednesday by saying that more than 30 states had expressed interest in joining the group but that it was important to strike a balance in any expansion.
“It would be wrong to ignore the unprecedented interest of the countries of the Global South and East in strengthening contacts with BRICS,” Putin told BRICS leaders in Kazan.
