The 3-day summit of the BRICS emerging economies is set to start on Tuesday in the central Russian city of Kazan. Russia apparently hopes to counter its isolation within the international community despite sanctions imposed by Western countries over its invasion of Ukraine.

The heads of state of participating countries arrived in Kazan on Tuesday. They received Russian-style hospitality, and were served traditional local sweets, bread and salt.

The summit will be the first since BRICS was expanded to nine countries. Egypt and Iran are among the four new member nations.

Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov said on Monday that a total of 36 countries will attend the summit and the extended meetings, and that 22 of them will send their heads of state or leader-level envoys.

The summit will be the first international gathering of such a large number of leaders since Russia began its invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings with his counterparts, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.