He said, "The desire of a number of Western countries to maintain their hegemony in the world led to a severe crisis in Ukraine...the actions of the Russian Federation in Ukraine are dictated only by the desire to stop the war of extermination unleashed by the West..."

Addressing the plenary session of the 15th BRICS Summit via video conferencing, Putin also called for de-dollarisation stressing that BRICS countries must expand settlements in national currencies and enhance cooperation between banks.

Putin also announced that Russia as chairman of BRICS next year plans to hold summit in Kazan in October 2024.

"In our chairmanship, we will have the following mottos- strengthening multilateralism for global development and security; we plan to have some 200 political, economic and public events; BRICS summit is scheduled for October 2024 in the city of Kazan..."

The BRICS leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, arrived at the Sandton Convention Centre to attend the plenary sessions earlier today.

Prior to attending the sessions, the leaders posed for a BRICS family photograph. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov posed for the picture along with other BRICS leaders in place of Putin.

Other than Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, PM Modi, Xi Jinping, Cyril Ramaphosa, and Brazil President Lula da Silva were also in the BRICS group photo.

BRICS is a grouping of the world economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.This is the first in-person BRICS Summit after three consecutive years of virtual meetings owing to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The plenaries are scheduled to be followed by a cultural performance and a banquet dinner hosted by President Ramaphosa. The opening day of the 15th BRICS Summit in Johannesburg was witness to the BRICS Business Forum Leaders Dialogue. (ANI)