A picture of Russian President Vladimir Putin, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Chinese President Xi Jinping remained in the news during the entire BRICS summit.
In the picture, Putin is in the middle, and next to him are PM Modi and Xi Jinping. During this, Putin is smiling towards the camera and indicating ‘thumbs up’.
Modi-Jinping met at the BRICS Summit after five years. The two leaders last met in the year 2019 when Xi Jinping came to visit India.
The leaders of the two most populous countries met on a platform like BRICS and Russia tried to show it to the world as its strategic success.
The BRICS conference was being held in Kazan at a time when on the one hand there is war in Ukraine and on the other hand, Russia is engaged in challenging the dominance of Western countries in the field of trade.
Columnist Sudhindra Kulkarni has described this BRICS summit held in Kazan, Russia as the most successful BRICS summit in history and Putin has been described as its hero.
But has Putin, who hosted more than 20 leaders in Kazan, really proved to be so?
BRICS was established in 2006 by Brazil, Russia, India and China. South Africa joined this group in 2011.
This organization represents 44 percent of the world’s population and more than a third of the economy.
How successful has Putin been in challenging the West?
Other Western countries including America have imposed the toughest economic sanctions against Russia and Russia’s relations with these countries are also in a critical period.
The matter has gone so far that last year the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin in connection with alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
But despite this arrest warrant, Putin reached Mongolia, a member state of the International Criminal Court, in September this year. This was his first visit to any member country after the issuance of the warrant.
If an arrest warrant is issued, ICC members are expected to detain suspects, but there are no set rules for this.
The BRICS manifesto also indirectly mentions the economic sanctions imposed by the West.
According to the declaration, “We are deeply concerned about the divisive impact of unlawful unilateral measures, including unlawful sanctions, on the world economy, international trade and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. “Undermine environmental agreements. They also have negative impacts on economic growth, energy, health, and food security, thereby increasing poverty and environmental challenges.”
Ajay Patnaik is a professor at the School of International Studies in JNU and an expert on Russian affairs.
Ajay Patnaik says, “Many countries already did not accept the sanctions imposed by the West. Yes, BRICS is an official platform where all the countries are seen standing with Russia on this issue. I think earlier too, different- “Many countries were supporting Russia in different ways.”
In BRICS, Putin has insisted on transactions in local currency instead of dollars and this has also been mentioned in the BRICS manifesto.
The declaration read, “We support this initiative of the New Development Bank (formerly the BRICS Bank) in the continued expansion of financial transactions in local currencies. We entrust the finance ministers and central bank governors of the BRICS countries to ensure that locals “Give importance to issues related to payment in currency and report back to us next year.”
In 2014, BRICS started the New Development Bank, which has been said to be an alternative to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.
Regarding the dollar, Putin said, “The dollar is still an important tool in the global economy, and using it as a political weapon undermines confidence in the currency. We are not rejecting the dollar or fighting it.” “But if they won’t let us work with the dollar, we will look for other options, and that’s exactly what we are doing.”
He said that about 95% of trade between Russia and China is now done in rubles and yuan.
But can this strategy be used to compete with Western countries?
Swasti Rao, an expert in international relations, is associated with the Manohar Parrikar Institute of Defense Studies.
Svasti says, “There is a group of big countries in the world that look at Russia from their perspective, not from the West. When they look from this perspective, they understand that there is a place where people like the New Development Bank There is a system like Contingent Reserve Arrangement under which such things appeal to the people. You will find that Russia is not alone in this.
However, no detailed information has been given about the schemes related to transactions and local currency.
Swasti says, “The idea of trading in local currency is welcome because it makes your economic relations secure and stable. But India will never support something like BRICS currency because in reality, it will be a currency dominated by China. “.
Western countries tried their best to show that Russia is isolated and in the name of BRICS, Russia left no stone unturned to show that many countries except the West are with them.
Turkey’s entry into BRICS
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had also arrived in Kazan to take part. Moving ahead of his traditional allies in the West, Erdogan is trying to build closer ties with the BRICS countries.
For some time now, he has been continuously showing interest in joining the BRICS block comprising Russia, China, and India. BRICS has given partner country status to Turkey.
In the month of August this year, Erdogan had said that Türkiye cannot depend only on the West.
He said, “Turkey cannot achieve its goals only with the help of Western countries. Turkey can become a strong, prosperous, and influential country only if it simultaneously pursues its relations with the West and the East.”
Putin invited Turkey to the BRICS summit this year and before accepting the invitation, Erdoğan had officially applied to join BRICS in September.
Türkiye is a member country of NATO. NATO i.e. North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Putin has been opposing Nato and this Nato is one of the main reasons for the Russia-Ukraine war. Turkey is the first Nato country which wants to join BRICS. This step of Türkiye is being seen as a confrontation with the West.
Ajay Patnaik says about this, “There is a lot of pressure on NATO members not to make any deal with Russia nor to increase their proximity. In such a situation, bringing NATO member Turkey to the BRICS platform is no less than an achievement for Putin. Although relations between Turkey and Russia were improving, Turkey is not getting that kind of acceptance within Europe because the EU members have been postponing its membership for many years. Saw that from the point of view of geopolitics, it is beneficial for it to be close to Russia.”
Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, and UAE were made BRICS members in January 2024. Although Saudi Arabia was also invited to participate, it has not happened yet.
If Saudi is also included in BRICS countries, then this organization produces 44 percent of the total crude oil worldwide.
Regarding Turkey, Swasti Rao says, “Turkey is coming closer to BRICS but Erdoğan will never leave NATO. But Turkey does not have membership of the European Union, so it is trying to join BRICS. Apart from Turkey, There are many other countries in the Middle East who want to join BRICS because BRICS repeatedly says that we are starting a different arrangement in oil trade. These things of BRICS are in the interest of these countries.”
Is the Modi-Xi meeting a success for Putin?
After half a decade, no bilateral talks took place between PM Modi and President Xi Jinping. India had announced this meeting just before the BRICS Summit and had talked about reaching an agreement on the ongoing dispute regarding patrolling. The next day, China also confirmed the meeting.
This meeting is being called a success for Putin and it was seen as a big opportunity for Putin. It was said that Putin wanted to show the West what the Western countries could not do in five years, he has done it.
In the conversation, both the leaders underlined the priority of maintaining ‘peace on the border’ and called ‘mutual trust, ‘mutual respect’, and ‘mutual sensitivity’ as the foundation of relations.
Emphasizing more ‘mutual communication and cooperation’, Xi Jinping said, “The people of both countries and the international world are watching our meeting very carefully.”
Should this meeting between Modi and Xi Jinping be considered a success for Putin?
According to Swasti Rao, the meeting between Modi and Xi has many aspects.
She says that naturally, Putin will take credit for this meeting because he wants to put the Global South at odds with the Western countries.
But India has its reasons for meeting Xi Jinping and staying in BRICS because India wants to keep its options open.
Ajay Patnaik says that I have said many times before that Russia and BRICS as a medium are the places from where India-China relations can improve.
Patnaik says, “There was a need for a power like Russia, which would bring both together on the forum and ask for a solution through dialogue. Russia has a role in this and it has been in the background. No one will openly say that Russia has a role. But Russia certainly has a role in this.”
What was said on the Ukraine issue?
When UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres accepted the invitation of BRICS, the Foreign Ministry of Ukraine strongly criticized him, calling it a ‘wrong choice’. However, there has been no reaction yet from Guterres’ side.
In the 43-page BRICS manifesto, the word ‘Ukraine’ is mentioned only once.
The declaration has 134 points and its 36th point reads, “We recall the positions of various countries regarding the situation in and around Ukraine, which have been expressed in the appropriate fora, including the UNAC and the UNGA. We stress that all countries must continue to work towards the objectives of the UN Charter and appreciate the good efforts being made to resolve this conflict through dialogue and diplomacy.”
Swasti Rao considers this announcement of BRICS as a major setback for Russia.
She says, “The entire West calls the Russia-Ukraine war illegal under the UN Charter and in such a situation, if the UN Charter is being talked about in the manifesto, then what will you say about it? If BRICS is also talking about accepting the UN Charter. If so, then it is a matter for Russia to think about why it went to war at all. Western countries will be happy that India has made them use their language of conversation.”
On Wednesday, Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry in Kyiv said Russia had failed to garner support for its invasion of Ukraine at the BRICS summit.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine said in its statement –
*This manifesto shows that BRICS as an organization does not have a single position on Russia’s aggressive campaign against Ukraine.
*We believe this is because most of these countries support the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, which are also mentioned in the Declaration.
*The BRICS summit, through which Russia had planned to divide the world, has again shown that much of the world stands with Ukraine’s intention to seek justice and lasting peace under international law and the UN Charter. It is.
* This also includes the principle of maintaining one’s territorial integrity within internationally recognized boundaries.
Interestingly, while BRICS was going on, America announced financial assistance to Ukraine at the same time.
