Russia Hosts BRICS Summit in Kazan Despite Continuing Western Sanctions

BRICS leaders gathered in Xiamen, China, in 2017 to meet for the 9th annual BRICS summit (Wikimedia Commons).

The Russian Federation hosted the 16th annual BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) summit from October 22 to 24 in Kazan. This summit was the first to happen in person in Russia since 2015, as the scheduled conference in 2020 was canceled due to Covid-19 concerns. 

Because of the ongoing war in Ukraine, the number of sanctions and condemnations looming over Putin and Russia remains high. Despite international pressure, 32 foreign delegations announced their intention to attend the 2024 summit, signaling to the United States and NATO that their strategy to isolate Russia has not been as effective as planned, per Washington Post. Most notably, Turkey, a long time NATO member and U.S. ally, attended the summit, having applied for BRICS membership in September 2024. If it is accepted into the organization, Turkey will become the first BRICS and NATO member, underscoring the rapidly changing landscape of modern geopolitics.

BRICS held the 2024 summit in Kazan, the capital of Russia’s predominantly Muslim Tatarstan region. The 2015 summit was in Ufa, also a predominantly Muslim city in the Bashkortostan region. Russia’s decision to host their BRICS summits in these predominantly Muslim regions reflects their attempt to signal to prospective BRICS members like Saudi Arabia and Iraq that Russia is an economic partner with strong ties to and understanding of Muslim culture and values. 

One of the main objectives of the Russian delegation was to push for a new, independent global payment system with significantly less reliance on the American dollar, according to The Guardian. This new policy would significantly benefit the Russian economy, as it would help ease the effects of the sanctions that have been imposed upon Russia for over two years. However, The Guardian reports that some BRICS members like Brazil and India are less supportive of this policy, as they feel the push for a less dollarized global payment system is rooted in political motivations, not economic ones.