Putin hosts 36 world leaders at Brics summit to show Russia is far from isolated

The Russian president, Vladimir Putin, ostracised by the west and labelled a possible war criminal by the international criminal court, has played host to 36 world leaders from nations including China, India and Iran as part of a summit of the Brics group designed to show Moscow as anything but isolated.

- Patrick Wintour Diplomatic editor

One of the main aims of the summit will be to speed up ways to reduce the number of dollar transactions, and so mitigate the ability of the United States to use the threat of sanctions to impose its political will.

A spokesperson for the UN secretary general, Antonio Guterres, confirmed he would attend the summit as he did last year. That decision infuriated many in the west as the international criminal court had issued arrest warrants for Putin over the abduction of children in Ukraine.

The UN said Guterres would repeat his view that the invasion of Ukraine is in breach of the UN charter.

Moscow said the representatives from 36 countries were attending parts of the three-day meeting, making it the largest international gathering hosted by Putin since he ordered the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia is this year's chair of the group.

The Chinese president, Xi Jinping, greeted Putin in Kazan, south-west Russia, as his "dear friend", praising the friendship between the two countries.

Xi said: "The world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century, and the international situation is chaotic and intertwined." Putin said he wanted to strengthen ties with China to bring greater global stability.