Analysis: The West wants Putin isolated. A major summit he’s hosting shows he’s far from alone

Nearly three years after Russias 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, an emerging coalition of countries stands behind him.. ..

The three-day BRICS summit, which started Tuesday in the southwestern Russian city of Kazan, is the first meeting of the group of major emerging economies Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa since itexpanded earlier this year to include Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran.. . Putin met with Chinas Xi Jinping at the summit on Tuesday, and claimed afterwards that their countries partnership was a model of how relations between states should be built...

Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva canceled plans to attend after suffering an injury at home.. . Set to be by far the largest international gathering the Russian president has hosted since the start of the war in February 2022, the gathering of BRICS and other countriesthis week spotlights a growing convergence of nations who hope to see a shift in the global balance of power and in the case of some, like Moscow, Beijing and Tehran directly counter the United States-led West.. ..

In remarks to reporters Friday, Putin hailed the growing economic and political clout of BRICS countries as an undeniable fact and said that if BRICS and interested countries work together, they will be a substantial element of the new world order though he denied the group was an anti-Western alliance.. . Putins messaging this week will be all the more poignant as the meeting comes just days ahead of the US elections, where a potential victory for former President Donald Trump could see the US shift its staunch support of Ukraine and strain Washingtons ties with its traditional allies more broadly.. ..

Today, even as BRICS has again expanded and the Kremlin says more than 30 additional countries are interested injoining or cooperating with it deepening geopolitical fault lines further complicate BRICS identity and direction, observers say.. . (China and Russia have) essentially tried to shift the group from the sense of (BRICS) being emerging economies to potentially being some sort of an expression of angst with regard to Western dominance, said Manoj Kewalramani, who heads Indo-Pacific studies at the Takshashila Institution research center in the Indian city of Bangalore.. ..

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