Brazil Putin expects the Brics group of states to grow

Russian President Vladimir Putin has presented himself as the leader of an international coalition of states at the Brics summit in the megacity of Kazan on the Volga.

At the official opening photo, he posed, framed by China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping and India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, as the host of a stronger and increasingly self-confident alliance that the Kremlin leader wants to build into a counter-pole to the West.

The abbreviation Brics is made up of the initial letters of the first member countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The alliance now also includes Iran, Ethiopia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates.

Putin emphasizes strong growth and authority of the Brics

With China and India, the alliance not only has the two most populous countries in the world in its ranks. It now also generates 36.7 percent of the global economy when adjusted for purchasing power, said Putin. The share is increasing. While the economy of the West is stagnating, that of the Brics countries will grow by 3.8 percent in 2024/25.

The Kremlin leader wants to build the Brics into a counterweight to the West. According to Putin, this is not only about economic and financial issues, but also about security policy. The countries involved in the alliance share the same values, said Putin.

Countries of the Global South want to join

The success of Brics apparently makes it attractive for other countries in the Global South to join. There are more than 30 countries that want to join the alliance, said Putin. According to the Kremlin, more than 20 heads of state and government had traveled to Kazan, mainly from Africa, Latin America and Asia.

"It would undoubtedly be wrong to ignore the unprecedented interest of the countries of the Global South and East in strengthening contacts with Brics," said Putin. However, he added that expansion should not be at the expense of the Alliance's efficiency.

Putin talks about successes in the Ukraine war at Brics summit

The Russian war of aggression against Ukraine was discussed several times in Kazan. The day before, Modi had once again renewed India's offer to mediate a peaceful solution to the conflict. The war was also discussed on Wednesday.

According to the Kremlin, Putin emphasized the successes of his army in the war against Ukraine to his interlocutors. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that the Ukraine crisis - as he called it - had played a role in all of Putin's bilateral meetings. "He emphasized the unwillingness of the Ukrainian side to hold any talks and the very, very positive dynamic for the Russian armed forces on the front," Peskov said, according to Russian agency reports.

The Kremlin leader had spoken individually with the heads of state or government from China, India, South Africa and Egypt at the summit in Kazan on Tuesday. In military terms, Russia currently controls less territory in Ukraine than it did shortly after the invasion began in 2022. However, Russian troops in the east have been pushing back the exhausted Ukrainian army step by step for months.

Middle East conflict overshadows Ukraine

At the summit, China's head of state and party leader Xi called for de-escalation in Ukraine and in the Middle East conflict. The alliance should be the guardian of common security, he said. In Ukraine, a rapid de-escalation of the situation must be sought. The battlefield must not be allowed to expand. A ceasefire and an end to the killing were needed in the Gaza Strip, said Xi.

The final declaration from Kazan can be seen as a success for Russian diplomacy. The member states condemned Israel's attacks on the Gaza Strip and Lebanon. Ukraine, on the other hand, was only mentioned in one sentence in the document. It was said that there were different positions on the problem. On the other hand, there was plenty of criticism of the sanctions imposed by the West against Russia because of the war.

Criticism of the United Nations

The demands of the Brics members for more co-determination in world politics were also evident in the repeated criticism of the United Nations. South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa once again called for a reform of the UN Security Council. "It does not represent the interests of the global community and therefore does not have the means to meet the global desire for peace," said Ramaphosa. The UN Security Council was therefore failing to fulfill its mandate. The members of the Brics Group, as important actors "for the shaping of a new multipolar world order", should promote a reorganization of the Council. The demands for a reform of the United Nations were also included in the final declaration.

UN Secretary-General Guterres' delicate journey

Under these circumstances, UN Secretary-General António Guterres' attendance at the Brics summit is controversial. The Portuguese is due to meet Putin on Thursday and also make a public appearance at the summit. There has already been criticism from Ukraine. Guterres had made the wrong choice to travel to Kazan but not to the peace summit in Switzerland, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry wrote in the run-up to his trip.

Guterres' confidants countered the accusations by pointing out that the UN Secretary-General had also attended Brics meetings in the past. The organization is so important internationally that it cannot be neglected. In Kazan, Guterres will also reiterate the well-known position that there must be a just peace for Ukraine. The corridor across the Black Sea for the export of Ukrainian grain, which was closed by Russia a year ago, must also be reopened.

SDA