BRICS summit in Brazil to be held without Putin and Xi, but with discussion of war in Ukraine
On July 6-7, Rio de Janeiro will host the 15th BRICS summit — an annual meeting of representatives of countries with leading developing economies. This year, the main topic will be the discussion of the situation around Ukraine. However, the leaders of the two key countries of the union — Russia and China — will not take part in the summit. This indicates a loss of interest in this organization in Moscow and Beijing, it is reported The Guardian.
The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, confirmed back in May that Ukrainian topics will be on the agenda. However, the summit will take place without the presence of the President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin – he will once again not go to the international event, probably because of the current arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court. A similar situation occurred during last year’s summit in South Africa.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping will also miss the event. According to The Washington Post, Beijing officially explained the absence of the head of the People’s Republic of China as a conflict in his work schedule, despite the fact that he previously met twice with the president of Brazil during the last year. China will be represented at the summit by Premier Li Qiang, as it was during the G20 summit in India in 2023.
The organization, which once positioned itself as an alternative to the G7, is increasingly showing a lack of strategic unity. The expansion of the group to include Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia, the UAE and Indonesia only exacerbated the contradictions between the participants, as their interests vis-à-vis the West and among themselves often diverge.
The summit in Brazil will be the first where the two most influential BRICS leaders decided not to appear in person. And although the Ukrainian issue will remain in the center of attention, the absence of Putin and Xi Jinping may indicate the loss of motivation of the leading players of the association to actively participate in a common global platform.
