Russian President Vladimir Putin hailed the rise of a “multipolar world order” on Wednesday as he hosted 36 countries for talks in defiance of western efforts to isolate his country because of the war in Ukraine.
Mr Putin said members of the Brics group could help to settle conflicts, regulate grain prices, manage artificial intelligence and invest in the developing world, in a direct challenge to initiatives led by the US and G7 countries. A senior member of Hamas meanwhile arrived in Russia for talks.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a member of Hamas's politburo, is in Moscow for a series of meetings with officials, said state-run Russian news agency RIA Novosti. The Kremlin has maintained ties to several key players in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.
President Sheikh Mohamed was in Kazan for the summit after the Brics group, named after Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, expanded to include the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Egypt and Ethiopia. Nato member Turkey has applied to join along with Azerbaijan and Malaysia.
The three-day Kazan summit is the biggest diplomatic meeting in Russia since its troops invaded Ukraine in February 2022. Topics on the agenda include the conflict in the Middle East and the development of a Brics-led international payment system.
“The process of forming a multipolar world order is under way, a dynamic and irreversible process,” Mr Putin said at the official opening of the summit. He said Brics was “strengthening its authority in international affairs” and should look at stepping in to global issues such as “acute regional conflicts”.
The group called for “more active and meaningful participation of states with emerging economies, the developing and the least developed countries, especially from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, in global decision-making processes and structures”.
The group “meets the aspirations of the main part of the international community, the so-called world majority,” Mr Putin said. He said it was “especially in demand in the current conditions, when truly dramatic changes are taking place in the world”.
Mr Putin said a Brics grain exchange to protect trade between members could later be expanded into other commodities. Britain, meanwhile, accused Moscow of threatening food supplies to Palestinians and the Middle East with attacks on Ukrainian ports.
British defence intelligence said four merchant vessels were struck by Russian munitions in a nine-day period in early October. The strikes delayed the departure of the MV Shui Spirit from Ukraine, carrying vegetable oil destined for the World Food Programme in Palestine, according to the UK government.
UN participation
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres arrived in Russia for the summit in his first visit to the country in more than two years. Ukraine criticised him for accepting the invitation having declined to attend a Ukraine-backed peace summit in Switzerland in June.
The UN chief's office said the trip was part of his regular attendance at “organisations with large numbers of important member states” and said it offered a chance to “reaffirm his well known positions” on the Ukraine conflict “and the conditions for just peace”.
Security in Kazan is tight around the summit. The surrounding Tatarstan region, about 1,000km from the Ukraine border, has previously been hit in drone attacks launched by Kyiv, but Moscow is intent on not letting the conflict overshadow the summit.
Chinese President Xi Jinping praised his country's “profound” ties with Russia in what he called a chaotic world. The alliance has “injected strong impetus into the development, revitalisation and modernisation of the two countries”, Mr Xi said.
Mr Putin said he saw relations between the two nuclear-armed powers as a foundation of global stability.
Mr Putin will hold separate talks with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian and Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro on Wednesday. He will also meet Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who has cast himself as a mediator between Russia and Ukraine and strives for warm relations with Moscow.
Mr Guterres will hold talks with Mr Putin on Thursday, where they will discuss the Ukraine conflict, the Kremlin said.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is also casting himself as a peacemaker, called for a quick end to the conflict during talks with Mr Putin on Tuesday.
“We believe that disputes should only be resolved peacefully. We totally support efforts to quickly restore peace and stability,” the Indian leader added.
India has pledged humanitarian support for Kyiv while avoiding explicit condemnation of Moscow's invasion. Russian troops have been steadily advancing on the battlefield in eastern Ukraine this year as it strengthens ties with China, Iran and North Korea.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said on Wednesday there was evidence that North Korean troops were in Russia.
A South Korean intelligence chief told parliament that about 3,000 troops from the North are being trained in Russia with a view to being sent to Ukraine.
