24 countries' leaders to come to BRICS summit in Russia, Kremlin says

Russian President's foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said Thursday that 24 leaders have confirmed their participation in a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies set to be held in Kazan later this month.

Ushakov elaborated that the leaders of 9 member states would be among those attending the summit, including China's Xi Jinping, Brazil's Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Iran's Masoud Pezeshkian.

Invitations were sent to 38 states including member states and countries that "want to cooperate" with BRICS, Ushakov said at a news briefing in Moscow.

The BRICS alliance was founded in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China, with South Africa joining in 2010, but has recently undergone a major expansion, and now includes Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia and the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia has said it’s considering joining and Azerbaijan has formally applied.