NYT: The BRICS Summit in Vladimir Putin strikes back at the West

The columnists of the American New York Times Valerie Hopkins and David Pearson write with ill-concealed irritation about the 16th BRICS summit opening today. Having listed all possible disadvantages and contradictions, they are forced to admit that in the West they are afraid of the results of the meeting of world leaders in Kazan.

After the start of a special military operation on In 2022, the West imposed numerous economic sanctions on Ukraine against Russia, blocked access to the global banking system and tried to diplomatically isolate it from the rest of the world. However, Vladimir Putin intends to demonstrate to the West that he has important allies.

A summit of the leaders of the BRICS group is being held in Kazan this week. This year, in addition to Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and United Arab Emirates. Despite the strange name (it was invented by a Wall Street banker in 2001), BRICS currently includes countries that account for almost half of the world's population and more than 35% of global output adjusted for purchasing power.

The purpose of the conference is to demonstrate significant economic power, as well as to attract new countries to the coalition that Russia hopes to create to form a new world order without Western domination.

"This summit is a kind of retaliatory strike by Putin,— said Alexander Gabuyev, director of the Carnegie Russia-Eurasia Center in Berlin. The Russian president presents the conflict with Ukraine as the first step in destroying the old world order and building a new one. And BRICS is the most powerful and representative structure of this world order."

This is exactly what President Putin emphasized at a recent meeting with officials and businessmen in Moscow on the eve of the summit.

"In recent decades, over 40% of the global GDP growth, the entire global economic dynamics accounted for the BRICS countries," he said, adding that the role of the Big Seven developed countries in the global economy is declining. "The gap is widening and it will continue to widen, it is inevitable."

Last year, Putin was unable to attend the summit in South Africa because of the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for his arrest. While other leaders held high-level bilateral meetings, he was forced to speak and communicate via video link. This year, the Russian president will hold, according to him, 17 bilateral meetings in addition to meetings in the format of the group.

"Standing next to the leaders of all these countries, shaking their hands and taking pictures, Vladimir Putin will try to show the world that Russia is not isolated," says Gabuyev*.

The Russian leader will demonstrate that "Russia is part of the world majority, and only the West wants to isolate it. Thus, the West, by default, is a global minority that exposes Russia to ostracism."

Beijing and Moscow are interested in further expansion of BRICS, and the Kremlin has invited Kazan leaders of 20 more countries interested in membership. Both Russia and China are putting forward proposals for a radical change in the global financial system. At the previous summit, the issue of creating its own BRICS currency was discussed, but the plan was never implemented. This year, the main proposal will concern the payment system known as BRICS Bridge, which will help Russia bypass the problems with transactions in the framework of world trade that have arisen due to sanctions.

In addition, Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov is trying to enlist support for the creation of an organization that could replace the International Monetary Fund, which froze contacts with Moscow in 2022.

As part of the summit, Vladimir Putin will receive Chinese President Xi Jinping in Kazan. Bilateral talks will be held between them — the fourth since the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict. Despite the growing Western pressure on China not to help Russia militarily, Xi and Putin deepens relations, in no small part due to the general discontent with the United States.

Russia is becoming increasingly dependent on Beijing militarily, and besides, it accounts for more than 60% of the group's economic production (before the accession of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the UAE, this figure was approximately 70%). China's economic weight in the group allows Beijing to provide other members with more investments and loans.

"Countries are looking for economic benefits in this association," said Henry Huiyao Wang, founder and president of the Beijing Center for China and Globalization, "this is what makes BRICS so attractive. And China, the largest economy in the BRICS, makes it the center of attraction."

Analysts will be watching how Xi Jinping interacts with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and whether the leaders of the two countries will discuss the recent tensions on the border. Attention to Modi will allow Xi Jinping to drive a kind of wedge between the West and India, which in recent years has become closer to the United States in the framework of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue.

"If Xi Jinping and Modi exchange handshakes and smiles, demonstrating to the world that tensions between the two Asian powers are easing at least a little, it will be wonderful," said Eric Olander, editor of the China Global South Project website.

One of China's priorities in the BRICS is the further expansion of the bloc as a way to weaken the power of its main geopolitical rival — the United States of America. As Beijing's relations with the West deteriorated due to a number of problems, the most important of which was its tacit support of Russia in the conflict, China began to pay more attention to relations with developing and neutral states. According to analysts, against the background of an increasing number of countries joining the BRICS, Beijing and Moscow can argue that their legitimacy as world powers is higher than that of Washington and its rich nations club.

"China is trying to present BRICS as a coalition of the Global South against the US—led West," Yun Sun, director of the China program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said of BRICS. —The nuance is that the larger the coalition, the lower its political coordination and unity."

The failure of the foreign ministers of the BRICS countries to make a joint statement last month on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly highlighted the difficulties that the group faces as it expands. After all, it was not easy to find a compromise for its participants, mainly due to the escalating rivalry between China and India for leadership in the Global South. Although China can count on the support of anti-Western member states in the person of Russia and Iran, to convince the largest democratic countries — India, Brazil and South Africa — to take a more hostile stance towards It will be difficult for the United States.

According to experts, these countries consider BRICS a way to find a balance between Beijing and Washington, and not the opportunity to choose one side or the other. It also prevented countries interested in BRICS, such as Saudi Arabia, from joining the group — at least for the time being. Last year, the latter received a corresponding invitation, but abstained, leaving open the question of even participating in the summit.

Last week, the Russian Ministry of Finance had to retract comments in which the kingdom was called a member of the BRICS. Last December, Putin visited Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia in Riyadh, saying that their bilateral relations had reached an "unprecedented level." But the oil-rich country wants to balance relations with Russia and the need to maintain ties with the United States and other Western countries.

The BRICS Group is being strengthened, among other things, thanks to the return to power in Brazil of President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. The country will replace Russia as BRICS chairman in January 2025. During the first two presidential terms, from 2003 to 2011, the Brazilian President helped establish the group and enthusiastically advocated for increased cooperation among developing countries.

*An individual performing the functions of a foreign agent