How will the Summit in Russia shape the future of the world?

The BRICS member states must take several critical decisions at the Kazan summit in order to improve cooperation within the group, Russian leader Vladimir Putin said yesterday, on the first day of the BRICS summit he is hosting.

Putin had a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, on which occasion he declared: "We greatly appreciate the cooperation between India and Russia, within BRICS, because both countries are founding members. We are seeing increased collaboration between legislatures, our foreign ministers are in constant communication, and trade is growing. (...) Relations between Russia and India are developing rapidly, and Moscow appreciates its interaction with New Delhi in the BRICS format".

Leaders of the countries of the BRICS group started yesterday, in Kazan, at a summit that will end on Thursday. Through this event, Vladimir Putin wants to show the West that he is not isolated on the international stage. The summit is attended by China, India, Brazil and the Arab world. The central theme uniting the BRICS members is their disillusionment with Western-led institutions of global governance, especially when it comes to economics.

Putin, who has about 20 bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, met yesterday with Modi and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and in the second part of the day he was scheduled to have a discussion with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.

According to the statements made by Cyril Ramaphosa following the meeting with Putin, "South Africa sees Russia as a valuable ally". He said: "We continue to see Russia as a valuable ally, as a valuable friend who has supported us since the beginning, from the days of our struggle against apartheid. We will have important discussions here in Kazan within the BRICS family".

Initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the BRICS group expanded this year with four more members - Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran. Several countries, including Turkey, Azerbaijan and Cuba, have recently publicly expressed their intention to join BRICS.

At the end of last week, Vladimir Putin said, according to Reuters, that BRICS will generate most of the global economic growth in the coming years, due to its size and relatively rapid expansion compared to that of developed Western countries. The Russian leader emphasized: "The countries of our association are, in essence, the engines of global economic growth. For the foreseeable future, BRICS will generate the main increase in global GDP. The economic growth of the BRICS members will depend less and less on external influences or interference. This essentially means economic sovereignty".

• The message of the summit organizers to the participants: "Come with cash"

While Vladimir Putin wants to prove to his counterparts participating in the BRICS summit that Russia is not suffering from the sanctions imposed by the West because of the war in Ukraine, the organizers are sending a different message to the foreign guests: "Come with cash", according to Bloomberg.

The summit website reminds visitors that they will not be able to use their Mastercard or Visa cards issued outside of Russia to make payments or cash withdrawals in the country. Union Pay cards are valid, but with restrictions, according to the organizers. In this context, Russia advised the summit participants to bring dollars or euros, adding that these are the only currencies that can be "freely exchanged for cash in rubles at most banks in Russia." The summit organizers also suggested the participants to get a Russian Mir card and gave them instructions on how to get such a bank card, including at the Kazan airport.

Before the summit, Dmitry Peskov, the spokesman of the Russian presidency, declared: "Russia is not isolated. In today's world it is very difficult to isolate a country, especially one like the Russian Federation".

• Meeting Vladimir Putin - Antonio Guterres, Thursday

The Kremlin announced on Monday that a meeting between Vladimir Putin and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is scheduled for Thursday, according to France Presse. This would be the first meeting between the two leaders after the start of the war in Ukraine. The diplomatic advisor of the Kremlin, Iuri Ushakov, said in Moscow: "At the end of the BRICS summit in Kazan, there will be seven bilateral meetings, one of which will be with the Secretary General of the UN, Antonio Guterres."

• The presidents of Brazil and Serbia are not traveling to the summit

The Brazilian president, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, canceled his trip to Russia for the BRICS summit on Sunday, according to the presidency's announcement, quoted by AFP. The official cited the consequences of a domestic accident, which make it impossible to travel by plane.

The Brazilian presidency stated: "According to the doctor's advice, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva will not travel to the BRICS summit in Kazan, due to a temporary impediment that prohibits him from flying long distances."

The official will participate, however, via video conference. Lula, aged 78, was hospitalized on Saturday, "after a domestic accident and a wound in the occipital region", according to the doctors, who say that the president fell in the bathroom, hitting the back of his head.

Asked about the situation of the Brazilian president, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov ruled out the possibility that the cancellation of Lula da Silva's trip was related to Vladimir Putin's decision not to participate in the G20 summit in November in Brazil. Peskov emphasized, according to the TASS agency: "The Kremlin could not even think of such a thing."

The president of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, will not attend the BRICS summit either, as his country tries to balance ties with Russia with efforts to join the European Union and improve relations with the US, according to Bloomberg. Vucic said that he asked Vladimir Putin to understand that he will not personally participate in the summit, citing his busy schedule, which includes the visit to Belgrade of Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen. The Serbian leader will, however, send four government officials to the summit.

Read BRICS expansion: New challenges in redefining global power