With four members (Brazil, China, India and Russia) when it was created in 2009, the BRICS bloc was joined by South Africa in 2010 and expanded this year to include several other emerging countries, including Egypt and Iran.
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday that he was expecting his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in Kazan, Russia, for the BRICS summit scheduled for October 22-24, expressing his desire for a one-on-one meeting on the occasion. “We are expecting Chinese President Xi Jinping at the BRICS summit. I propose to hold a bilateral working meeting during this work”Vladimir Putin said during a meeting with Chinese Vice President Han Zheng in Vladivostok in the Russian Far East.
The two men are close partners and have met many times over the years to display the “limitless friendship” between their two countries, which has been further strengthened since the Russian offensive in Ukraine. Moscow and Beijing jointly denounce what they see as American hegemony in international affairs. Vladimir Putin traveled to Beijing last May to meet with Xi Jinping.
China presents itself as neutral in the conflict in Ukraine and assures that it does not supply any weapons to any party. But the Americans and the Europeans regularly accuse it of offering Russia, targeted by significant Western sanctions, crucial economic support for its war effort. The BRICS summit is also expected to welcome another close partner of Vladimir Putin and regional rival of Beijing, the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who already visited Russia in July.
With four members (Brazil, China, India and Russia) when it was created in 2009, the BRICS bloc was joined by South Africa in 2010 and expanded this year to include several other emerging countries, including Egypt and Iran. Turkey, a NATO member state with sometimes strained relations with its Western allies, announced Tuesday that it had submitted an application to join the bloc.
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