Inside the big summit where Putin hopes to defy Western pressure on Ukraine war

As President Vladimir Putin tries reposition himself as an international ambassador at the BRICS summit in Russia, his war with Ukraine looms over it.

KAZAN, Russia — Almost 700 miles east of Russia's war in Ukraine, the city of Kazan is a safe enough distance away for President Vladimir Putin to try to reposition himself as an international ambassador.

In the center opposite Kazan’s Kremlin, a historic castle, Russian state media is erecting broadcast stages to amplify three days of meetings, as world leaders from a group known as BRICS convene in the city for its annual summit.

Representing 41.1% of the world’s population and 37.3% of its gross domestic product, the bloc aims to counterbalance U.S.-led Western alliances; the three-day event will allow Putin to stand shoulder to shoulder with Russia's global allies and defy predictions that the war in Ukraine and an international arrest warrant would turn him into a pariah.

The Kremlin has called it one of the “largest-scale foreign policy events ever” in Russia.

Among those recruited to staff the gathering in the city east of Moscow is 18-year-old student Islam Gavrilov, who said his father, Sergei Gavrilov, 46, “died in the trenches” in Ukraine on Oct. 1, 2022.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/russia-war-ukraine-vladimir-putin-brics-leaders-kazan-rcna176351

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