Russian President Vladimir Putin scored a public relations victory on the second day of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, by embracing Chinese dictator Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi — a photo opportunity that sent the message that Western efforts to diplomatically and economically isolate Russia for invading Ukraine have failed.
Putin claimed at the summit that over 30 nations have expressed interest in joining BRICS. The group was founded by Brazil, Russia, India, and China in 2009, adding South Africa the following year.
The first expansion since 2010 occurred in January when Egypt, Iran, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Ethiopia were added to the roster.
BRICS has previously hinted that 13 more potential members are working closely with the group, but Putin’s claim on Wednesday more than doubled that number. BRICS officials said representatives from 36 nations, plus U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, attended the Kazan summit.
Putin said BRICS should consider further expansion carefully.
“It would be wrong to ignore the unprecedented interest of the countries of the Global South and East in strengthening contacts with BRICS. At the same time, it is necessary to maintain a balance and prevent a decrease in the effectiveness of the BRICS,” he said.
“We are all witnessing the dynamic growth of BRICS and the strengthening of its authority and influence in global affairs,” he said.
Putin said the BRICS approach is “especially relevant in the current conditions when truly radical changes are underway across the globe, including the shaping of a multipolar world.”
India and China have serious differences, but they are united in their appetite for buying Russian oil. India is more concerned than China about the war in Ukraine, but Modi merely expressed his hopes for peace at the summit without stern criticism of Russia’s brutal conduct in the conflict.
Putin squeezing Xi and Modi in his onstage embrace was a signal that a new post-American order is rising. Some analysts believe Putin could hammer that message home by accepting some version of the peace proposal for Ukraine that has been floated by China and Brazil, freezing the U.S. and European powers out of the process. The Ukrainians, however, have displayed little interest in accepting the China-Brazil proposal.
The “Kazan Declaration” produced by the summit excoriated Israel for the Gaza war, but only mentioned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine once. Ukraine mocked this outcome as transparently absurd.
“Moscow’s attempts to impose an idea of an alleged alternative position of the so-called Global South regarding Russian aggression against Ukraine have failed again,” the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said on Wednesday.
Putin on Wednesday renewed his call for BRICS to develop an alternative payment system that would dethrone the U.S. dollar as the world’s preferred currency for trade. His de-dollarization scheme has faced some resistance in the past from members like India, who would prefer to remain friendly with the U.S. and integrated with Western economies.
“The dollar is being used as a weapon. We really see that this is so. I think that this is a big mistake by those who do this,” Putin said, boasting that China and Russia are now using the Russian ruble to handle almost 95 percent of their trade.
The Washington Post noted the BRICS summit is “the largest geopolitical event in Russia since the war,” and also “the first formal talks between the estranged leaders of China and India in five years.”
Putin met on the sidelines of the summit with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. Pezeshkian took the opportunity to praise Iran’s growing ties with Russia as “strategic and highly beneficial.”
“I also see the BRICS framework, along with the Eurasian Economic Union and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization — of which we are members with Russian support — as a suitable platform for constructive interaction,” the Iranian president said.
Pezeshkian expressed his hopes that BRICS could counter “unilateralist and hegemonic policies” from the United States, by which he meant protecting dungeon states like Iran from human rights sanctions. Putin was very receptive to this notion.
“In general, I must say that Russia’s and Iran’s views on global issues are either closely aligned or completely identical; we seek to create a just multipolar global order while we preserve the central role of the United Nations,” Putin said.
These feathers in Putin’s geopolitical cap did not come without a few embarrassments, as BRICS attendees could not help but notice rolling internet blackouts in Kazan caused by signal jamming to ward off Ukrainian drones, and the attendees were obliged to carry around wads of cash because international sanctions against Russia prevented them from using credit cards.
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