Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva was expected to join but canceled his trip after suffering an injury at home. “This BRICS summit is really a gift (for Putin),” said Alex Gabuev, director of the Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center in Berlin. Russian President Vladimir Putin, Chinese leader Xi Jinping, then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pose as they arrive for the BRICS summit in Brasilia in November 2019. While BRICS is primarily geared toward economic collaboration, its meeting last year took place in the shadow of the war in Ukraine. The gathering in Kazan also gives Putin ample opportunity for one-on-one facetime with his fellow BRICS leaders and other friendly dignitaries in attendance.

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Persons: Vladimir Putin, –, Xi, India’s Narendra Modi, Iran’s Masoud, Cyril Ramaphosa, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, Putin –, Xi –, Putin, BRICS, Donald Trump, ”, Alex Gabuev, …, BRICS “, ” Gabuev, Xi Jinping, Jair Bolsonaro, Narendra Modi, Adriano Machado, Mahmoud Abbas, Israel –, Jonathan Fulton, Volodymyr Zelensky, Yevhen Titov, they’ll, Manoj Kewalramani Organizations: CNN, Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center, Indian, Reuters, International, Israel, Atlantic Council, United Nations General Assembly, US, New Development Bank, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, BRICS, Kremlin, Takshashila Locations: Ukraine, Moscow, Russian, Kazan, Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Iran, Beijing, Tehran, United States, Berlin, Brasilia, Johannesburg, Israel, Gaza, Hezbollah, Lebanon, Abu Dhabi, “, Gabuev, BRICS, Kharkiv, Indian, Bangalore