This week’s BRICS summit sets the stage for renewed wrangles around the bloc’s future role. The leaders of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa will meet virtually on Thursday to discuss cooperation on issues like health cooperation and the post-pandemic recovery. 

However, despite the event’s development focus, geopolitical concerns sharpened by the Ukraine crisis are sure to crop up. China’s state-owned newspaper Global Times made clear that this year’s summit will also focus on the global economic impact of Western sanctions against Russia. It called for the BRICS to spearhead the development of alternative global payment systems that can challenge the “arbitrary hegemony of the US dollar.”