Photos: Putin hosts leaders at BRICS summit

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 22, 2024. The three-day gathering, held amidst tight security in the city of Kazan, is the biggest international event in Russia since the Ukraine conflict began in 2022, with Putin seeking to build an alliance aimed at challenging the West’s “hegemony”.

Some two dozen other leaders are to attend the summit, including Chinese leader Xi Jinping, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Above, Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with Chinese President Xi Jinping on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 22, 2024.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 22, 2024. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said he wanted the Ukraine conflict to be resolved peacefully and “quickly” as he met President Vladimir Putin at the BRICS summit in Russia on Tuesday.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan. The main issues on the agenda include Putin’s idea for a BRICS-led payment system to rival SWIFT, an international financial network that Russian banks were cut off from in 2022, and the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with Dilma Rousseff, Chair of the New Development Bank and former president of Brazil, on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan on October 22, 2024.

Chinese President Xi Jinping arrives at the Kazan airport to attend the BRICS summit, hosted in the city of Kazan from October 22 to 24.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrives at the Kazan airport to attend the BRICS summit, hosted in the city of Kazan from October 22 to 24.

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian arrives at the Kazan airport to attend the BRICS summit, hosted in the city of Kazan from October 22 to 24.

A view shows the Kul-Sharif mosque, part of the historic Kazan Kremlin, in Kazan on October 22, 2024, during the BRICS summit.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres is on his first trip to Russia since April 2022 to attend the summit. He will sit down with Putin on Thursday, according to the Kremlin, for talks that have been criticised by Kyiv.