The BRICS summit in Russia will be the "the largest foreign policy event ever held" by Russia, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov has said. The summit with include 36 countries with over 20 represented by heads of state. Russian President Vladimir Putin has positioned the BRICS summit as a counterweight to the West.

The meeting marks the largest gathering of international leaders in Russia since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

Nearly three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw Moscow condemned by countries globally, leader Vladimir Putin is staging a summit with more than a dozen world leaders – in a pointed signal from the autocrat that far from being alone,