Ukraine updates: Russia hosts BRICS summit in Kazan

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said early on Tuesday that he had departed for the BRICS summit in Russia’s southwestern city of Kazan. 

“India attaches immense importance to BRICS, and I look forward to extensive discussions on a wide range of subjects. I also look forward to meeting various leaders there,” he said. 

In a slightly longer press release, Modi also made reference to his visit to Moscow in July this year and said he hoped to further deepen bilateral ties. 

“Building upon the Annual Summit held in July 2024 in Moscow, my visit to Kazan will further reinforce the Special and Privileged Strategic Partnership between India and Russia,” the statement from Modi said. 

Modi also visited Kyiv in late August. In both countries he expressed a willingness to help broker any potential negotiations or efforts to stop the conflict.  

Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, India has maintained economic ties with Moscow, and began purchasing more Russian oil at a discount after Western sanctions closed off other markets. 

Despite accusations of funding Putin’s war machine, New Delhi justified the increase in oil purchases by citing India’s traditional “stable and friendly” ties with Moscow.

India has maintained a neutral position on the Ukraine war, and has not condemned Russia’s invasion outright, while trying to balance strong ties with Ukraine’s allies in the West. 

During a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in August, Modi stressed that his government championed respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry criticized UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres for his reported plans to attend the talks in Kazan, after he had skipped Kyiv’s summit seeking a way to end the war with Russia.

“The UN Secretary General declined Ukraine’s invitation to the first global peace summit in Switzerland,” Kyiv’s Foreign Ministry wrote online.

“He did, however, accept the invitation to Kazan from war criminal Putin. This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace. It only damages the UN’s reputation.” 

However, it’s not entirely clear whether Guterres will attend in Kazan this week.

Russian officials said earlier this month that the UN chief had told Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that he would be in Kazan. 

But deputy UN spokesman Farham Haq told reporters on Monday that Guterres’ future travel plans were not yet set. 

Ukraine’s “peace summit” in Switzerland in June involved representatives of dozens of countries, but perhaps crucially, none from Russia. Moscow denounced it as meaningless.

Russian President Vladimir Putin‘s government has invited two dozen world leaders to Kazan for a summit of the recently expanded BRICS grouping starting this Tuesday and lasting three days.

Russia’s major international partners like Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan are scheduled to join the summit.

The acronym BRICS stands for the five countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, an alliance of emerging economies that is fashioned as an alternative to the Western-led economic order seen in groupings like the G7. 

The group decided at its 2023 summit to try to expand its ranks. 

Argentina, Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia were all invited to join, although Argentine President Javier Milei declined after winning the election, saying he wanted to take more of a pro-Western course.

The Kremlin likely hopes the meeting in Kazan will show that any political isolation of Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine doesn’t extend far past NATO’s borders. 

jsi,dvv/wmr (AFP, AP, dpa, Reuters)