The anti-American BRICS coalition, led this year by rotating president Russia, will convene its heads of state on Tuesday for a summit expected to focus heavily on building a dollar-free parallel economic system, the ongoing conflict in Gaza, and what to do with the dozens of countries that want to be members.
Russian strongman Vladimir Putin is expected to welcome the heads of India, China, South Africa, Iran, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, and Ethiopia in the city of Kazan on Tuesday. Brazil, the first letter in the BRICS acronym, announced on Monday that socialist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva will not be able to attend the event following a significant head injury after falling in a bathroom. Saudi Arabia, which was invited to join BRICS in January but never finalized its membership, will send representation, however, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is not expected to attend.
Joining the other leaders will be a host of heads of state from countries seeking to join the growing club, united by their opposition to the U.S.-led international order and little else. Putin, speaking to reporters in September, said that 34 countries had expressed interest to one or several BRICS members in joining the group.
Among those expected to attend are United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the first leader of a NATO country to be welcomed to the summit. French President Emmanuel Macron reportedly told South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa in 2023 that he was interested in attending that year’s BRICS summit, but China and Russia enthusiastically opposed the idea.
Other nations seeking membership include a variety of financially struggling countries including Zimbabwe, Cuba, Venezuela, Sri Lanka, Syria, and Belarus. Given that Putin has described the creation of a BRICS currency as a long-term goal this week, members have to carefully weigh the potential financial complications that may burden the group if welcoming some potential new members.
BRICS is a largely China-led coalition of countries seeking to overthrow the influence of the United States, the G20, NATO, and the greater Western-led global order. The members routinely find themselves at odds in both their bilateral relationships and on major geopolitical issues. India is often an outlier in the group, facing years of Chinese belligerence on its border, for example, or vocally supporting Israel after the Hamas massacres of October 7, 2023, while other BRICS members oppose Israel’s existence.
With top Hamas financier Iran present at the summit, Israel’s self-defense operations in Gaza are expected to be a top issue of discussion. Putin aide Yuri Ushakov told reporters this week that the first day of the summit will include a members-only meeting addressing “the most pressing conflict situations in the world,” where Gaza will likely feature prominently. Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is expected at the summit, similarly will raise the “Israeli threat” at the summit, the Iranian Foreign Ministry confirmed on Monday.
“We are determined to use our participation in the summit to hold diplomatic talks and make efforts to draw the attention of the international community to the threats related to the continuing crimes of the Zionist regime,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said, according to the Russian news agency Tass.
The core members of the BRICS coalition are all vocally anti-Israel save for India, which has plainly backed the anti-terrorist operations in Gaza and condemned Hamas. This position has brought strife to BRICS, as Iranian “supreme leader” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declared India an “enemy of Islam” in September, prompting an outraged response from New Delhi.
Also unlikely to embrace the Iranian position on Hamas is the United Arab Emirates (UAE), which normalized relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords brokered by former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Outside of any individual geopolitical issue, the creation of a parallel global payment system to override Western-led human rights sanctions on multiple BRICS members will be a priority, the Russian government has ensured. Russia is facing significant sanctions on its financial operations, including a ban on using the global SWIFT payment system. In an event on Saturday, Putin reportedly said that BRICS is exploring the creation of an anti-SWIFT system for its members and the creation of a new currency to weaken the use of the dollar around the world.
“At this point of time it (a BRICS currency) is a long-term prospect. It is not under consideration. BRICS will be cautious and act gradually, move slowly. The time has not come yet,” Putin said, explaining that the alternative payment structure is a greater priority.
“I think the United States needs to give it a thought that they have spoiled the relationship with Russia by imposing continuous sanctions, and it has a negative impact eventually on them,” Putin said. “So, the entire world is thinking whether dollar is worth using.”
Russian officials have repeatedly mentioned the creation of the parallel payment system as a priority for this week’s summit.
“Our task is to create our own independent system, given the largely political decisions of the West,” Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said this month.
The issue of accepting new members is expected to be more contentious than the expansion of trade ties among the highly sanctioned members of BRICS. Ushakov, Putin’s foreign policy aide, conceded in early October that current members have “divergent views” on accepting new members and that Russia will propose the creation of a lower tier of “partnership” status for non-members who want to cooperate with BRICS.
China’s state-run Global Times propaganda outlet described the issue of new members as a “key agenda” item for this week’s summit in an analysis piece on Monday
“According to the China Central Television (CCTV,) the expanded BRICS has increased to 35.6 percent of the world’s GDP, and its share of the world GDP has exceeded the Group of Seven (G7) in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP),” the Global Times noted. BRICS’ propensity to tout its economic potential could suffer if some of the most destitute nations demanding entry, most prominently Cuba and Zimbabwe, achieve membership.
Some of the new wave of members are already undergoing financial crises, such as Ethiopia, which defaulted on its debt last year, and Egypt, which has seen its economy decline as the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists of Yemen attack global shipping in the Red Sea, sending Suez Canal toll profits plummeting.
On the other hand, major oil producers such as Nigeria — or Turkey, which can offer BRICS insight into NATO — could bring significant diplomatic advantages to the group.