Russian President Vladimir Putin made a video address to the participants of the BRICS Business Forum, which takes place on August 22 in Johannesburg, South Africa, ahead of the main meeting of the leaders of the BRICS countries.
According to journalists from the Kremlin pool at the business forum, the Russian president’s address was dubbed into Russian with a different voice. It is not known what the reason for this is.
A month ago, he canceled his visit to South Africa after the country’s authorities publicly warned that they would be forced to arrest him on a warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Russia is now represented at the meeting by its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov. Putin took virtual part in the forum with a pre-recorded video address in which he announced that the de-dollarization of the world economy is an “irreversible process”, reported Reuters, quoted by BTA.
According to him, this is happening as public and private debts are growing, and instability in financial, energy and other markets is intensifying.
According to the Russian president, the countries of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) should cooperate on an equal footing to achieve their goals. He pointed out that “the group is on its way to meet the aspirations of the majority of the world’s inhabitants”.
“We cooperate on the basis of the principles of equality, peer support, respect for each other’s interests, and this is the essence of the future-oriented strategic course of our association, a course that meets the aspirations of the main part of the world community, the so-called global majority Putin said.
According to him, Russia remains a reliable supplier of food to Africa, but the sanctions imposed on the country prevent these supplies from being carried out smoothly and making the necessary bank payments.
He once again stated that Russia is ready to send grain to Africa for free and is about to finalize talks on such deliveries.
BRICS expansion
The BRICS group, which includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, represents about 40 percent of the world’s population. The meeting is expected to discuss the admission of new members, but Putin did not touch on that topic in his video address.
The list of interested new members is long: 23 countries, including Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Iran, Argentina and Ethiopia, want to join the club, Deutsche Welle reported.
In early August, South Africa’s ambassador to BRICS, Anil Suklal, said that at the meeting, BRICS leaders would make a statement on the group’s expansion. It, in his words, will lead to a decisive change in the global world order.
The war in Ukraine, sanctions, criticism of the dollar and the global balance of power are the other topics of the forum. The meeting in South Africa will definitely demonstrate not only the withdrawal of the West from many of the developing countriesbut also their growing self-esteem.
With BRICS, China and Russia pursue specific goals
“China benefits from the anti-Americanism of the BRICS countries, which brings many countries of the Global South closer to China”explains China expert Felix Lee in an interview with Deutsche Welle.
“This is the goal that China is pursuing with BRICS.”
According to him, BRICS is far from a functioning union that can be trusted, as it is with the G-7 countries, but Beijing’s main intention is to oppose the Americans, adds Lee.
Russia also pursues strategic interests. According to political scientist Gunther Meihold of the Free University of Berlin “Moscow wants to use the momentum to attract its allies to the club, for example Belarus or Venezuela”. Maihold adds that for Putin, the expansion of the BRICS countries is an opportunity for him to get out of international isolation.
