Russia is rolling out the red carpet to its allies on Tuesday as it hosts the latest BRICS summit in a show of strength to the West.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is to host a meeting featuring China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi, Turkey’s Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iran’s Masoud Pezeshkian this week, defying predictions that the war in Ukraine and an international arrest warrant would turn him into a pariah.

Yuri Ushakov, foreign policy aide to Putin, stated that 36 countries have confirmed their participation, with over 20 planning to send their heads of state, the Associated Press reported. The 2024 summit coincides with the annual meetings of the IMF and World Bank, the two Bretton-Woods institutions that BRICS positions itself as an alternative to.