Russia, expansion and Western relations in the spotlight as leaders gather for pivotal BRICS summit
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Leaders from five developing nations accounting for nearly half the world’s population are gathering in Johannesburg Tuesday for the 15th BRICS Summit with expansion of the emerging market grouping, the war in Ukraine and relations with the West all high on the agenda.
Hosted by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the current BRICS chair, the meeting will convene Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will join virtually as he is currently subject to an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court for war crimes. As an ICC signatory, South Africa would have been required to honor the warrant had Putin arrived in the country.
Ramaphosa invited 67 leaders from across Africa, Latin America, the Middle East, Asia and the Caribbean to attend the summit, but no Western leaders received an invitation. The U.N. secretary-general, chair of the African Union Commission and president of the New Development Bank were also invited along with over a dozen other dignitaries and a host of business leaders.
