President Vladimir Putin welcomed his Chinese counterpart, Xi Jinping, to Russia on Tuesday, as the Kremlin head prepares to host several leaders of developing nations at an intergovernmental summit this week.

The BRICS summit in Russia will be the "the largest foreign policy event ever held" by Russia, Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov has said. The summit with include 36 countries with over 20 represented by heads of state. Russian President Vladimir Putin has positioned the BRICS summit as a counterweight to the West.

Nearly three years after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine saw Moscow condemned by countries globally, leader Vladimir Putin is staging a summit with more than a dozen world leaders – in a pointed signal from the autocrat that far from being alone,