Russian President Vladimir Putin held one-on-one conversations with almost all his colleagues from the BRICS countries who came to the summit in Kazan and discussed the most important and sensitive issues, including the conflict in Ukraine, said Assistant to the Head of State Yuri Ushakov. He recalled that the day before Putin had several bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit, and in the evening he had an informal dinner with state leaders. According to Ushakov, at dinner they talked a lot about Kazan, Tatarstan, history and the Volga River - about its significance for Russian people.
“And then they touched on a number of topics that directly relate to the BRICS summit,” added the presidential aide. When asked for clarification whether Ukrainian issues were discussed, he answered in the affirmative. “And then there was also an interesting thing. Our leader managed to hold more conversations in a tete-a-tete format. He stood aside with literally all the leaders and discussed, so to speak, the most important, most sensitive issues. This was also done yesterday,” Ushakov said. He noted that Putin did not discuss this issue. with all the participants of the summit: with some there was a detailed conversation, and with some the president did not touch upon this topic at all. Ushakov mentioned that the text of the final declaration of the summit with the BRICS position on the Ukrainian issue has already been agreed upon.
The BRICS summit is taking place in Kazan from October 22 to 24. Putin has a whole series of international contacts planned. On the first day, he met with Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, South African and Egyptian Presidents Cyril Ramaphosa and Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the head of the New Development Bank, Dilma Rousseff.
