Delegations from more than thirty countries gathered for the BRICS summit, taking place from October 22 to 24 in Kazan, Russia. Among the heads of state directly involved in this structure (Brazil, China, India, South Africa, and several newcomers), only Brazilian President Lula da Silva was absent, reportedly due to a head injury. Nevertheless, he joined the summit online, while the country's foreign minister, Mauro Vieira, represented Brazil at the event. Leaders from Azerbaijan, Armenia, Mongolia, Belarus, Congo, Laos, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and other nations also arrived in Kazan.
One of the most notable guests was the President of NATO member country Turkey, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who previously announced his country's intention to join BRICS. However, the Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman did not attend the summit, sending the foreign minister in his place. Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić also did not make it to Kazan, explaining that he had previously arranged a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk for these dates. Vučić noted that traveling to Russia would have been "extremely difficult due to various circumstances," likely referring to pressure from the West, as reported by Reuters.
Meanwhile, the leaders of the founding BRICS countries were joined by over a dozen leaders representing "partner states," as well as UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry stated that the UN Secretary-General made a "wrong choice": first, he declined to participate in the June "Peace Summit" in Switzerland, and now he arrived in Kazan at Putin's invitation. "This only harms the reputation of the UN," concluded the domestic foreign policy agency.
In response, UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq explained that "BRICS countries represent about half of the world's population," and therefore the summit "is of immense importance for the work of the UN."
"After the onset of the full-scale invasion, the survival of Ukraine depended on isolating the Russian Federation globally and strengthening the anti-Putin coalition. Only the Russian Federation and its most odious satellites, such as Belarus, Syria, or North Korea, voted against UN General Assembly resolutions on Ukraine. Today, the UN Secretary-General came to Russia... At the same time, Guterres was absent from the Peace Summit in Switzerland. This is not only about discrediting and the immorality of the UN and its leader in their current amorphous state; it is also a very alarming signal for Ukrainian diplomacy. A tremendous amount of effort and time has been invested in working with Global South countries. Yet none of them supported sanctions against the Russian Federation, and now we see them actively legitimizing the war criminal Putin. Of course, this is a slap in the face to the collective West and a signal to the United States, which should consider renewing global leadership. Because due to the indecisiveness of the West, the axis of evil is gaining strength," commented Iryna Gerashchenko, a member of the Ukrainian Parliament from EuroSolidarity, on the BRICS summit.
Highlighting that BRICS countries account for 45% of the world's population and that the economies of member states exceed $28.5 trillion, roughly 28% of the global economy, the parliamentarian concluded: "Currently, BRICS consists of 10 members, and in 2024, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Ethiopia joined the organization. It is evident that the Russian Federation and its partners are actively working on the expansion of BRICS. Russia will present a series of strategic initiatives and its vision for cooperation development in this format. Circumventing sanctions, creating a unified currency, launching a new payment system, duty-free trade, signing a peace agreement between Armenia and Azerbaijan, and concluding a strategic partnership agreement with Iran—these and many other issues are on Russia's agenda for the summit. It is now crucial for our Foreign Ministry to conduct a thorough analysis of the failure of Russia's isolation policy and discuss these risks with allies. "The diplomacy of emotions" must return to professional diplomacy. Otherwise, peace summits will remain mere beautiful photos against the backdrop of Swiss mountains."
Various photos of Putin with leaders of other countries, even if not set against a mountainous backdrop, are flaunted 24/7 in Putin's Russia by both top propagandists and bloggers of all kinds. Moreover, on Wednesday, October 23, global media, both Western and non-Western, exhibited exceptional unanimity, reporting on the ongoing BRICS summit in Kazan. Their common conclusion was that the aggressor country hosted the largest international forum since the beginning of the full-scale war, calling into question claims of Russia's isolation on the world stage.
As stated by Putin's aide Yuri Ushakov, delegations from 36 countries and six international organizations arrived in the capital of Tatarstan. According to Putin himself, more than 30 countries have expressed a desire to join the club "in one form or another." The Kremlin dictator also noted that current BRICS members should organize their acceptance of new members in such a way as to avoid a decrease in the effectiveness of the union. "The fact is that after the substantial expansion at the end of 2023, BRICS faced the question of how to 'digest' such a number of countries within a single platform. As a result, a decision was made in Kazan to create criteria for partner states, according to which further expansion will occur. Now new potential members will go through a kind of 'filter'," Ushakov declared pompously. He also added that a list of 13 candidate countries was agreed upon at the summit. However, he did not disclose which countries these are, "because we need to talk to them about their readiness to connect, either for full membership in BRICS or in some appropriate form." Likely, the example of Argentina, which was accepted into BRICS but did not join after a change of government, made existing members approach the "casting" process more seriously.
The final 43-page declaration of the Kazan BRICS summit includes 134 points. In particular, it reflects discussions that took place in Kazan about global security issues. The greatest attention was given to the situation in the Middle East, Sudan, and Afghanistan. Meanwhile, the Russian-Ukrainian war was addressed in just one paragraph. Specifically, in point 36 of the document, it is noted that BRICS members "have national positions regarding the situation in Ukraine and around it." It also included a call for all states "to act in accordance with the goals and principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and interconnection."
The adoption of the Kazan Declaration on October 23, the second day of the BRICS summit, demonstrated that Russia has yet to secure international support and has not created the alternative security structure that the Kremlin desires, as noted in a recent report by analysts from the American Institute for the Study of War (ISW). "The declaration states that all signatories must act in accordance with the principles of the UN Charter—including the respect for territorial integrity—and that BRICS states welcome relevant mediation proposals aimed at ensuring a peaceful resolution to the war through dialogue and diplomacy," emphasized ISW experts.
At the same time, the domestic Foreign Ministry emphasized, in response to the Kazan Declaration, that Russia was unable to "export" its views on changing the world order and the architecture of global security to the summit participant countries. The foreign policy agency also noted that the BRICS declaration clearly shows that the participating countries in this club "are not united around Russia's war against Ukraine because many of these countries uphold the principles of the UN Charter." Ukraine's Foreign Intelligence Service similarly assessed that the BRICS summit would not lead to approval from the international community of the alternative system of international regulation that Russia seeks and stated that India, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Brazil, and South Africa "opposed turning BRICS into an anti-American coalition."
"It's certainly nice to read analyses about how the BRICS summit did not achieve what Russia wanted. But the thing is, the world does not read analysis. The world sees handshakes, smiles, and embraces with people who unleashed the greatest war of the century and are wanted internationally for war crimes. The murders of their own opposition with chemical weapons are barely even remembered... This is an interesting historical moment. I don't even know what to call it. Ceremonial events celebrating a global moral catastrophe," noted former presidential office employee and public activist Sergey Koshman.
Romashova Natalia