The summit’s final document said little about the Ukraine war, but several participants were still searching for a way to end it diplomatically.

Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy aide to Putin, stated that 36 countries have confirmed their participation, with over 20 planning to send their heads of state, the Associated Press reported. The 2024 summit coincides with the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, the two Bretton-Woods institutions that BRICS positions itself as an alternative to.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the newly expanded BRICS group showed that a “multipolar world” is being created, in a challenge to the US-dominated global order.