Up close with Vladimir Putin at BRICS meet
BRICS summit, I was granted rare access to the president's movement — something very few journalists experience.
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As I stood not very far away from the man at dinner, I watched Putin unhurriedly weave through the crowd, glass of Russian wine in hand, stopping to offer toast to each important guest. «To the prosperity of our nations,» he declared with a glint in his eye.
For Putin, the summit and the pomp and ceremony around it was a stage to showcase Russia's resilience and defiance. In the heart of the Russian republic of Tatarstan, Putin wasn't merely presiding over a dinner; he was presenting a carefully curated vision of Russia — one that seeks to redefine its place on the global stage.
Russia is not isolated — this was, in many ways, the message the Kremlin sought to convey while hosting the BRICS summit. Putin's gala in Kazan was not just about diplomacy; it was his way of reasserting Russia's place at the table of international politics. The summit symbolised Putin's broader efforts to present Russia as a nation deeply rooted in tradition while asserting its place as a global power. There would be times when President Putin, who would swiftly walk into the halls with Prime Minister Narendra Modi on one side and China's President Xi Jinping on the other.
For a foreign journalist based in India who has spent the last five years covering the India-China border
