The West wants to isolate Putin, but his summit shows its strength

The West wants to isolate Putin, but his summit shows its strength

Almost three years after Russia's invasion of Ukraine , who see Moscow internationally, the Russian President Wladimir Putin organizes a summit with more than a dozen World leaders. This sends a clear signal that it is not alone: an emerging coalition of states is behind him.

The Brics summit in Kasán

The three-day Brics summit, which begins on Tuesday in the Southwest Russian city of Kasán, is the first meeting of the group of important emerging countries-Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa-since their extension this year , the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia and Iran.

participants and their meaning

expected participants are China's XI Jinping, India's Narendra Modi, Irans Masoud Pezeshkian as well as South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa and other heads of state, including Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva originally wanted to participate, but canceled his trip after he had injured himself at home.

The summit will be the largest international meeting that the Russian President has organized since the beginning of the war in February 2022. He illustrates the growing convergence of nations that want to bring about a shift in global power structure, while Moscow, Beijing and Tehran face the influence of the United States.

Putin's message and global influence

Putin-together with his close partner and the strongest Brics country guide XI-will send the message in the coming days that the West is isolated in the world, while a " Majority ” of countries is ready to question the American supremacy.

In his statements to journalists on Friday, Putin praised the growing economic and political power of the Brics countries as an "undisputed fact" and emphasized that when Brics and interested countries work together, they could "be an essential part of the new world order", although he did not call the group as "anti-western alliance".

global crises in the focus

The meeting oriented by Russia is in the sharp contrast to Brics summit of the last year in Johannesburg, as Putin based on a looking for international Criminal court for alleged war crimes through a video appearance.

This year the Russian President is at the head of the first summit since the organization was almost doubled, and the meeting takes place against a completely different global background. While Brics is primarily geared towards economic cooperation, the last meeting took place in the shadow of the Ukraine War. The already intensified Conflict in the Middle East , in which Israel fights against Iran, the talks of the government leaders are also expected to dominate.

political dynamics and challenges

Putin confirmed last week that the Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas would take part in the event. Observers expect the Russian leader and his officials to use the conflict and anger in the global south against the United States and its support for Israel to advocate a new world order without US dominance.

China and Russia both have asked for an armistice in the spreading conflict and criticized the actions of Israel, while the USA of Israel's right to retaliate against the militant groups of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and Hesbollah in Lebanon.

collaboration and political tensions

Many participants in the summit see the conflict in the Middle East "as an outstanding example of why this special group of countries should have more influence," said Jonathan Fulton, a leading non -resident fellow of the Atlantic Council in Abu Dhabi. However, he added that the countries "mainly use it as a rhetorical point to criticize things that they do not like" and are not necessarily interested in leading a resolution.

observers will also make sure whether China and Brazil use the meeting as a platform to strengthen their six-point peace proposal for the Ukraine War, as they did at the last meeting of the United Nations General Assembly. The Ukrainian leader Wolodymyr Selenskyj had sharply criticized this approach by saying that such plans would be of Moscow.

The participants in Kasán also have the opportunity to talk to other Brics leaders and friends of dignitaries.

The identity crisis of the Brics

The leaders will probably discuss in the coming days how the ongoing efforts to process payments outside the system dominated by US dollar can be promoted using Brics currencies and banking networks. This system could offer economic advantages and help member countries such as Russia to avoid western sanctions. The countries will also look for opportunities to expand the economic, technological and financial cooperation in various areas from energy to the joint use of satellite data.

At the same time, however, they will deal with the tensions and different agendas within the group that, according to observers, restrict the skills of the BRICs. This is nothing new for the group that held its first summit of Brazil, Russia, India and China in 2009 and added South Africa the following year. Brics was expanded in 2015 with the establishment of the new development bank, which is considered an alternative or supplement to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

Since the beginning, Brics has been loosely united by the common interest in reforming the international system in order to better show its voices. From the beginning, Brics has integrated countries with depths in political and economic systems, as well as other tensions. India and China, for example, that represent two important supports of the block, have a Border conflict , which in recent years has become even more excellent due to the tense relationships between China and the USA and the closer partnership between India and the USA.

Today, even if Brics has expanded again and the Kremlin indicates that more than 30 other countries are interested in joining or cooperation, deeper geopolitical cracks make the identity and alignment of the BRICS, according to the observers.

"(China and Russia) basically tried to postpone the group from the presentation of the (Brics) as emerging economies to an expression of discomfort about western dominance," said Manoj Kewalramani, who heads the Indo-Pacific studies at the Takashaila-Institut in the Indian city of Bangalore. New or aspiring members may not want to choose between this vision and the West, but rather let their economies grow and "interact non-ideologically and pragmatically".