Summit on its own

In South Africa, a meeting of the BRICS countries is being held, at which the expansion of the alliance will be discussed. The President of the Russian Federation is the only one who participates in the video

In Johannesburg, in the South African Republic, from August 22 to 24, the 15th Summit BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) is held. President Vladimir Putin participates in the event only in the video, because in the event of his arrival in South Africa, local authorities would be obliged to arrest him and transfer him to the Hague, according to the decision of the International Criminal Court. The President of the Russian Federation is considered involved in the illegal transfer of children from the occupied regions of Ukraine to Russia.

Instead of Putin, the Russian delegation was headed by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. On the basis of the Air Force of South Africa Waterclof, he was even met by folk dances.

On Tuesday, Putin made a video message to the participants of the BRICS business forum, which is held before the summit. Moreover, the record was shown with the changed voice of the president, although the original version was published on the Kremlin’s website.

Putin in his speech noted that it was necessary to solve important problems “against the background of an increasingly deepening volatility of stock, currency, energy, food markets, in conditions of significant inflationary pressure, which is also irrevocable of a number of countries to conduct large -scale emission to smooth out the costs of pandemia, which provokes the accumulation of private and state debt ". He also stated that "an illegitimate sanctions practice, illegal freezing of assets of sovereign states also have a negative impact on the international economic situation."

Who came to the summit

This is the first full-time meeting of the group since the beginning of the pandemia Covid-19. The leaders of about 60 countries of Latin America, Asia and Africa were invited to it.

Before the Summit, the President of South Africa, Siril Ramafos, met the chairman of the PRC Xi Jinping, who stated that "the upcoming meeting of the leaders of the BRICS will become an important milestone in the development of the mechanism and will help to bring the cohesion and cooperation of developing countries to a higher level." On Tuesday in South Africa, Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi also flew . Brazilian President Luizo Inasio Lula da Silva arrived in Johannesburg and stated that he would like to personally discuss the issues of the summit’s agenda with Putin.

In total, representatives of about 60 countries were invited to the summit.

President of French Emmanuel Macron also wanted to attend the summit. The Foreign Minister of Foreign Affairs Catherine Katrina said that "the presence of a dialogue is always good, even if we disagree with everything by 100%."

Macron could become the first Western leader to participate in the BRICS summit, but the South Africa authorities did not invite him.

The official representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova stated that the presence of Macron at the meeting “would not at all contribute” to the implementation of such tasks as “increasing the role of developing countries in the multipolar world, the development of collective, creative, combining directions of the agenda for the entire international community.” She also noted that Russia has repeatedly stated the inappropriateness of participation in the meetings of the BRICS countries leading a hostile policy against Moscow. The deputy head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Sergey Ryabkov also said that Russia considers the participation of President Macron in the Brix summit and brought its position to partners in South Africa.

On Wednesday, on the main day of the summit, Xi Jinping missed the opening of the event, attended by President of South Africa, Siril Ramafos, Brazilian President Luiso Inasio Lula da Silva and Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi. Applications on behalf of the leader of the PRC were read out by the Minister of Trade of China Van Wantao, reports Al Jazeera.

In his speech, read out by a colleague, Xi Jinping called for the expansion of BRICS "to build a more fair and equal international order." He noted that "hegemonism is not laid down in the DNA of China."

Later, the leaders of the four countries and the Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov took a joint photo.

In video conference mode, Putin joined the BRICS meeting in an expanded composition. The theme of the meeting is “BRICS and Africa: partnership in the interests of joint accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive versatility.” Speaking, the President of Russia again justified the attack on Ukraine with the desire to "put an end to that war that was unleashed by the West and their satellites in Ukraine against people living in the Donbass."

“We are grateful to our BRICS colleagues who take an effective part in attempts to stop this situation and achieve a fair settlement with peaceful means. Dear colleagues, the main thing is that we all unanimously act in favor of a multipolar world order, truly fair and founded on international law, ”said Putin, who could not attend the event personally, because the International Criminal Court issued an order to arrest him on charges of deportation of Ukrainian children.

The next BRICS summit is planned to be held in October 2024 in Kazan, Putin said .

Expansion of the block

Leaders of the BRICS countries will discuss the expansion of the block. In July, representatives of South Africa stated that in total more than 40 countries expressed a desire to become part of the BRICS. Official applications for the entry were filed by 22 of them, including Iran, Argentina, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Egypt.

According to the sources of Financial Times, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and Indonesia can become new members of the group. At the same time, the criteria for taking new members have not yet been determined, they have to coordinate the leaders of the block.

The only time the Alliance expanded in 2011, when the South African Republic joined it. The expansion of membership was initiated in 2022 by China. In early August, the President of Brazil advocated the inclusion of new countries in the BRICS: Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the UAE. According to Lula, representatives of the group countries can discuss the possibility of joining new countries if consensus is reached. “I think that it is extremely important for us to allow other countries that meet the requirements to join Brix,” he said.

At the same time, FT notes that on the eve of the summit between China and India, disagreements arose about whether the group should be separate and protecting the economic interests of developing countries, or the political force that openly challenges the West.

“If we expand the BRICS so that its members correspond to the G7 by the share of GDP, our collective voice will be better heard in the world,” the Chinese official who wished to remain unknown told FT.

At the same time, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of South Africa Pandor drew attention to the fact that it is “extremely wrong” to consider the expansion of the BRICS as an anti -Western step. On August 17, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Iran President Ebrahim Raisi about Tiegran’s statement to join Brix.

According to the economist Sergei Guriev, it is difficult to assess the likelihood of expanding the block, but this is possible.

- For expansion, both Russia and China advocate. There is a Western coalition of countries that Russia and China represent as America and its allies and China are important to show, especially now, when the China’s economy is slowing that there is an alternative - China and its allies.

At the same time, in case of expansion, China will remain an unconditional leader, and everyone will perceive BRICS as an alternative coalition led by China. Therefore, the economist believes, it is quite possible that India, Brazil, South Africa doubt the need to expand BRICS. Now they have a voice, and if another five to ten countries are added to the BRICS, it will be less important.

Russia is not interested in, for example, countries like Japan or Germany become permanent members of the Security Council, because then its voice will be blurred there.

“But now, when Russia is isolated from the whole world, it is very important for it to show first of all to itself, for domestic consumption, that the isolation of Russia is not complete, that the country is a member of an important alternative club, that the attempts of the West have failed to isolate Russia,” Guriev explains. - In this sense, of course, it is important for Russia that its key allies, such as Iran and Venezuela, are also represented in this group.

The expansion of the composition of the group may be the first since 2010, when South Africa joined the then Brick. According to Bloomberg, by 2040, the expanded group will account for about half of the world production, which will double the share of the "large seven"

“Iran and Venezuela, obviously, like Russia, I would like to be members of a large global club,” says Guriev. - Other countries would also like to be part of the platform where you can discuss important global problems. But from the point of view of economic cooperation, BRICS does not carry any specific benefits and projects. The only institution that was created over the 14 years of the BRICS is Brix Bank (new development bank, New Development Bank). This is an interesting initiative, but, of course, this bank, which is based in China, has nothing to compare with another Chinese multilateral bank - the Asian Bank of Infrastructure Investments. And in size, and in the composition of the participants, and on ambitions, it is much ahead of the new development bank. However, both of these banks next week after a large -scale invasion ( Russia to Ukraine. - Approx. Ed. ) In February 2022, they immediately announced that they were suspended projects in Russia and did not consider new projects there.

In July 2023, Brix abandoned new investment projects in Russia due to sanctions. In 2015, in 2015, in Shanghai, NDB received $ 10 billion from the founding countries of BRICS-Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa-and over eight years of work increased the loan portfolio by more than 30 times, writes Moscow Times. The initial goal of the bank announced the financing of infrastructure projects and sustainable development in the participating countries and developing states. However, the beginning of the war in Ukraine and a number of sanctions against Russia made the bank “toxic” in the eyes of investors, since 20% of the authorized capital belong to Russia.

What else is discussing at the summit

The Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation Anton Siluanov said that the leaders of the BRICS countries are discussing the possibility of creating a common settlement unit, an alternative dollar.

“It can be a calculated unit for BRICS members. Not that a single currency, as in the EU, but the calculated unit as an alternative to the dollar, which can express the costs of commodity supplies, benchmarks for some goods in order not to depend on a single currency or the emission center that is not clear how the emission of these banknotes, ”the minister said.

Earlier, the Representative of the Foreign Ministry of South Africa told TASS that the task of the emergence of a single currency BRICS is still in the stage of preliminary study and is discussed in a “conceptual form”.

Officials familiar with the discussions also told Financial Times that the summit would rather focus on developing an agreement that BRICS members should increasingly carry out trade operations with each other in their local currencies.

Vice President of South Africa Paul Mashatile said that Brix "is not going to compete with the West, but wants to take his place in the global business." Bloomberg notes that today deep disagreement among members of the BRICS has limited the ability of the bloc to strengthen influence in institutions such as the International Monetary Fund, the World Bank or the UN Security Council.

Guriev noted that the countries are very heterogeneous, they have very different economic interests, in contrast to the “seven” or “twenty”.

“The agenda of these countries is to expand cooperation in order to confront“ dollarization ”together, but these are very vague goals,” the economist explains. - Sometimes they say that Brix will introduce his currency. Even if this happens, it will be a stillborn currency. In terms of international trade and finance, the leader of BRICS is China. Even Rupia is an uncontrolled currency. There are even more problems with other currencies. Therefore, of course, we are not talking about the fact that there will be a currency BRICS, which differs from the Chinese. It is possible that the BRICS countries will continue to discuss trade in their currencies, and not in dollars. And this sounds especially interesting against the background of Russia's problems, which has sold to India a lot of its export goods, primarily oil, and now, according to Bloomberg, does not know what to do about $ 40 billion in rupees. This is a typical problem of countries that are trying to get away from the dollar. The dollar, despite all the challenges and problems, remains the leading international currency and is widely represented in trade, including between countries that are trying to get rid of the influence of America.

In early May, Sergei Lavrov said that Russia was discussing the option of transferring to another currency of the rupees accumulated from it. So he answered the question about the suspension of negotiations on trade in the Indian currency. “This is a problem. We have accumulated billions of rupees on accounts in Indian banks. We need to use this money. But at the moment, these rupees should be transferred to another currency. The issue is being discussed, ”the minister said following a meeting of the Council of Foreign Council of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization in Goa.

On the last day of the summit, the President of South Africa plans to meet the leaders of the BRICS and global south member countries. The heads of state and governments of most African states, the Association of the States of Southeast Asia, the Caribbean community, members of the Seventy Seven Seven Group should arrive in Johannesburg.