As I stepped off the plane in Kazan, Russia, the cool autumn breeze carried whispers of what diplomats are calling a potential “eastern realignment.” The 16th BRICS Summit, hosted by Vladimir Putin, brings together leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—but this year’s gathering carries unusual weight amid escalating Western trade tensions.
“We’re witnessing a deliberate countermove to Western economic pressure,” confided a senior Indian diplomat who requested anonymity due to the sensitivity of ongoing negotiations. “Modi’s presence here sends a calculated message to Washington.”
Indeed, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance is particularly noteworthy given China’s President Xi Jinping is playing an unusually prominent role in this year’s proceedings. Their bilateral meeting yesterday marked their third face-to-face encounter in just four months—a remarkable diplomatic thaw after years of border tensions between the Asian giants.
Standing in Kazan’s historical center yesterday, I watched as Putin personally greeted Xi with an embrace that seemed choreographed for Western audiences. The summit’s timing—just weeks after Trump announced plans for 60% tariffs on Chinese goods and as Biden maintains his predecessor’s hardline trade stance—hardly seems coincidental.
“Xi is methodically building an economic bulwark against American pressure,” explains Sergei Karaganov, Honorary Chairman of Russia’s Council on Foreign and Defense Policy. “The BRICS expansion and de-dollarization efforts represent a coordinated response to Western sanctions and trade restrictions.”
The summit welcomes new members Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates, expanding BRICS’ collective share of global GDP to nearly 36%. Chinese state media has heavily emphasized this growth, framing it as evidence of waning Western economic dominance.
For Modi, the summit presents both opportunity and risk. India maintained robust economic growth at 7.8% last quarter, outpacing China’s 4.7%. Yet the Modi government faces increasing pressure from domestic manufacturers struggling with Chinese imports that reached $101 billion last year, while India exported just $16 billion to China.
“Modi is walking a tightrope,” explains Tanvi Madan, Senior Fellow at Brookings Institution. “He needs Chinese investment and Russian energy, but can’t appear too eager to bandwagon with authoritarian powers while courting Western partnerships.”
Yesterday, I observed several Indian and Chinese business delegates exchanging contact information following a state-sponsored investment forum. One Indian solar manufacturer told me, “We’re looking beyond the politics. The reality is that no serious global supply chain can function without Chinese components.”
The summit’s economic agenda focuses heavily on expanding trade in local currencies—a direct challenge to dollar hegemony. Putin announced that intra-BRICS trade conducted in national currencies has reached 85%, up from just 25% five years ago.
“De-dollarization is no longer theoretical—it’s happening in real time,” notes Michael Pettis, Finance Professor at Peking University. “The question isn’t whether the dollar will remain dominant, but rather how quickly alternatives can develop credible infrastructure.”
For everyday Russians, Chinese partnership offers concrete benefits amid Western sanctions. Walking through Kazan’s shopping districts, Chinese payment systems like UnionPay and Alipay are ubiquitous where Visa and Mastercard once dominated.
Putin’s embrace of Eastern partners comes with its own complications. His appearance at the summit represents a rare international outing since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest last year. The Russian leader hasn’t visited a Western-aligned nation since, limiting his diplomatic reach precisely when Moscow needs economic lifelines.
“Putin has effectively turned east by necessity, not choice,” argues Alexander Gabuev, Director of Carnegie Russia Eurasia Center. “While Russia provides diplomatic cover and energy resources to China, the partnership remains fundamentally asymmetric.”
Conversations with Russian officials here reveal anxiety about becoming overly dependent on Beijing. One mid-level foreign ministry official confided, “We understand China sees us primarily as a resource provider. Their investments focus on extractive sectors, not technology transfer.”
Modi’s approach appears more balanced. While in Kazan, the Indian leader simultaneously announced a new trade corridor linking India with Europe via the Middle East—a project that notably excludes both Russia and China. The International North-South Transport Corridor reflects India’s strategic hedging between competing power centers.
For Xi, the summit offers a platform to present China as the leader of an alternative global order. His speech yesterday emphasized “development without interference” and “respect for civilizational diversity”—thinly veiled criticisms of Western-led international institutions.
Beyond the pageantry, concrete deliverables remain uncertain. Previous BRICS initiatives like the New Development Bank have struggled to match the lending capacity of Western-dominated institutions like the World Bank and IMF.
“The group still lacks institutional coherence,” notes Oliver Stuenkel, Associate Professor at Brazil’s Getúlio Vargas Foundation. “Despite shared grievances against Western dominance, these countries have fundamentally different visions for global governance.”
As evening settled over Kazan yesterday, security tightened noticeably around the summit venue. The carefully managed proceedings offer Putin a rare moment of diplomatic normalcy amid his increasing international isolation.
What remains clear is that the summit represents more than routine diplomacy—it signals an accelerating fragmentation of the global economic order. Whether this Eastern realignment gains sufficient momentum to challenge Western institutions depends largely on whether these diverse nations can translate shared grievances into coherent alternatives.
For now, as the BRICS leaders pose for their official photo tomorrow, the image will project unity. The more complex reality is that each leader arrives with distinct priorities, leveraging this eastern platform primarily to strengthen their position in an increasingly divided world.
