A defiant Putin wraps up global summit aimed at reshaping global order: NPR

MOSCOW, Russia — The Kremlin’s message boiled down to this: We still have plenty of friends in the world.

Over three days in Kazan, Russia, Russian President Vladimir Putin hosted more than 20 leaders from many of the world’s fastest-growing countries. Every photo shoot, every bilateral meeting, every handshake seemingly proves that Western efforts to isolate Moscow over Ukraine have failed.

Speaking to international reporters at the end of a summit in the Russian city of Kazan, Putin dismissed reports of collusive ties with Trump as old history and called “nonsense” reports that Russia was trying to sow chaos in Western politics.

Putin said Russia’s future relations with the United States will depend on the next administration. But later said Moscow would not shy away from expansion if necessary.

Putin also commented on Western intelligence reports that North Korean troops are now in Russia and ready to be sent to Ukraine, saying, “If the satellite photos show anything, it must be there.”

He then pointed to the newly ratified Russia-North Korea defense pact, saying he never doubted Pyongyang’s commitment to the deal.

The international gathering was for the 16th annual BRICS+ summit, an acronym carved out since the economic bloc was first launched in 2009 by initial members Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

A “+” was added to reflect the addition of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates to this year’s lineup. Others – including Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia – have also applied for membership.

More countries may come.

The final day of the summit was billed as an “exit” to countries in the Global South – a key focus of Russia’s foreign policy after Ukraine.

Addressing a roundtable of about 30 countries, Putin told the assembled BRICS+ members and guests that they “share common ambitions, values ​​and a vision for a new democratic world order”.

He blasted the West for hoarding concepts like global wealth, commodities, human rights, climate change and even democracy.

From left, Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan at the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia, Thursday, Oct. 24, 2024.

Alexander Nemenov/Pool AFP

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BRICS+ countries already account for 45% of the world’s population and 35% of global economic output. Most of it is from China.

Russia has framed that dynamic as evidence that the BRICS+ represent a growing global majority, more powerful than the West as a whole, and ready to flex its economic and political muscle against the US and its European allies.

Catching up? Many may agree, but not everyone is as victimized as Moscow these days.

Founding members India and Brazil see BRICS+ less as a vehicle for war with the West than as a forum for expanding trade opportunities.

The group has also been hampered by key regional rivalries between India and China, which have traditionally diluted its influence.

Some – notably Beijing and New Delhi – have clearly benefited from access to Russian oil and gas exports as a result of Western sanctions. But even Russia’s closest trading partners are unwilling to openly recognize Moscow’s actions in Ukraine.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi called on Putin to end the war “swiftly”. Chinese President Xi Jinping, who has famously pledged a “partnership without limits” with Putin, has publicly endorsed a negotiated settlement.

When asked about the BRICS members’ thoughts on the war, Putin admitted that it should simply end – the Kremlin leader acknowledged reports that North Korean troops had been sent to Russia on their way to war in Ukraine.

BRICS+ Group Communication He humbly thanked the members for their peace efforts.

In contrast, reports on the crisis in the Middle East, even the protection of wild cats, are very strong. Indeed, it was difficult to find concrete results from the BRICS+ Kazan summit.

The most popular Russian pitch for an alternative global payment system — in effect, a solution to doing business under Western sanctions — has been fueled for now.

“We are not creating an alternative, we will not,” Putin said when asked about the plans by Russian state media. Detour west.

Perhaps the most unifying idea of ​​the summit Each and every – Local Kazan feast served to foreign dignitaries upon arrival.

BRICS+ may indeed be the future, but its strength is currently symbolic.

And that seems to be the case for this year’s hosts. A key Kremlin adviser called the event “the biggest foreign policy event ever” in Russia.

“The BRICS showed the limited power of the West in the rest of the world,” writes Sergei Markov, a pro-Kremlin political analyst who declared the event a success.

“For now, this proves that they are not isolating Russia,” he said.

“That is the major achievement of the BRICS organization.”