Representing 41.1% of the world’s population and 37.3% of its GDP, the bloc aims to counterbalance U.S.-led Western alliances.

Nearly three years after Russia’s 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,

The U.S. slapped heavy sanctions on Russia after its Feb. 2022 invasion of Ukraine, including major blocks on the transactions of Russian financial institutions, banning U.S. imports of Russian energy products, and personal sanctions on Russian oligarchs in Putin's inner circle.

President Vladimir Putin will play host to Russia’s biggest gathering of world leaders since the invasion of Ukraine and use the BRICS summit to show the US and its allies that he’s no pariah.

Two dozen world leaders will meet in Russia next week for a summit of the Brics group, an alliance of emerging economies the Kremlin hopes will challenge Western “hegemony”. The summit will be the biggest in Russia since the Ukraine conflict began and comes as Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to show Western attempts to isolate Moscow over the two-and-a-half-year offensive have failed.

The West has dubbed you a pariah for invading Ukraine. Sanctions are aiming to cut off your country's economy from global markets. And there's an arrest warrant out for you from the International Criminal Court.

Two dozen world leaders  gathered in Russia on Tuesday for the opening of a three-day summit of the BRICS group, an alliance of emerging economies that the Kremlin hopes will challenge Western "hegemony".