Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin both gave the 17th BRICS Summit in Rio a miss on Sunday, July 6.
Xi stayed home and sent Premier Li Qiang in his place. Putin, on the other hand, tuned in virtually—no surprise there, considering he’s got that International Criminal Court arrest warrant hanging over his head.
Brazil’s an ICC member, so if Putin showed up in person, things would’ve gotten real awkward, real fast.
Why did Chinese President Xi Jinping miss the BRICS Summit?
Word is, Chinese President Xi Jinping has got his hands full at home. China’s economy isn’t exactly killing it right now—trade spats with the U.S., sluggish growth, and some serious soul-searching about where things are headed over the next five years.
There’s a big political meeting coming up, and apparently, Xi thinks steering the ship at home is more important than smiling for the cameras in Brazil.
Some folks, like Professor Brian Wong from HKU, told CNN that sending Li Qiang isn’t some kind of diplomatic snub. Xi’s still all in on BRICS+, at least for now.
There’s another angle, though. The Times threw out the idea that Xi might be annoyed with Brazil’s First Lady, Rosangela Lula da Silva. Last month in Beijing, she apparently broke protocol at a banquet by raising her hand and calling out TikTok for pushing right-wing content and being bad for kids.
Why did Putin attend BRICS online?
Putin skipped the BRICS summit in Brazil due to the ICC arrest warrant. Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov basically admitted as much, saying the “ICC requirement” made things complicated, and Brazil wasn’t able to offer the kind of guarantees Putin would need to show up in person. Instead, he’ll just dial in over video. Classic move.
🚨Authority and influence of BRICS in the world is growing year by year – Putin
Other statements by Russian President at the BRICS Summit in Rio:
🔸 BRICS countries continue to deepen cooperation in key areas
🔸BRICS countries possess enormous political, economic, and human… pic.twitter.com/WygS6DVH8j
— Sputnik (@SputnikInt) July 6, 2025
The background’s pretty grim. The ICC went after Putin back in March 2023, naming him in a warrant tied to the mass deportation of Ukrainian kids. Russia is accused of snatching up tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, stripping away their identities and pushing them into Russian culture.
Some reports say this is a straight-up attempt to erase their Ukrainian roots, which, according to the 1948 Genocide Convention, could count as genocide. That convention specifically lists “forcibly transferring children of the group to another group” as an act of genocide, so yeah, it’s serious.
Meanwhile, BRICS itself is getting bigger—now up to 11 members, with newcomers like Egypt, UAE, Ethiopia, Indonesia, and Iran joining the gang.
The expansion brought in fresh faces, sure, but also new divisions. The group was already a mashup of democracies and autocracies, and now, well… let’s just say harmony isn’t exactly the word that springs to mind.
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