Intellinews
By Theo NormantonJune 25, 2022
The 14th annual summit of leaders from the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) began on June 23. Russian President Vladimir Putin used his speech to ask the bloc’s other leaders for support and call for closer economic ties as Russia looks for new markets in the face of Western sanctions.
The summit, which was hosted by Beijing via videolink, had the official theme “Foster High-Quality BRICS Partnership, Usher in a New Era for Global Development”.
As the theme suggests, the summit was used by some countries to promote an alternative style of global economic and diplomatic leadership in which emerging countries play a bigger role.
Putin called for co-operation in the face of what he called “selfish actions” by the West. He added that sanctions are no more than Western states “using financial mechanisms” to “transfer their own mistakes in macroeconomic policy on to the whole world.”
In contrast, Putin said that Russia could “count on the support of many Asian, African and Latin American states striving to pursue an independent policy.”
Indeed, Russia is actively increasing its trade with non-aligned and friendly countries in an effort to plug the gap left by Western money. India and China alone are now buying almost as much oil Russian as Europe was before Russian troops entered Ukraine. According to Putin, Russian trade with the BRICS group increased by 38% in the first quarter of 2022.
Out of all the BRICS countries, only Brazil voted to condemn Russia’s actions in Ukraine at a UN vote in March. But Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has not publicly rebuked Russia, insisting that Brazil must stay neutral…
