The times are a-changing and the BRICS Summit is a major factor
In its coverage of the BRICS Summit in Kazan this morning, the BBC World News broadcast featured a report on Vladimir Putin’s press conference at the conclusion of the Summit narrated by their Moscow bureau chief Steve Rosenberg.
The British, in particular, were compelled to pay attention to the proceedings in Kazan because, to their considerable embarrassment, BRICS had drawn the usual high-level statesmen away from their own gathering of Commonwealth heads of government that was opened yesterday by King Charles in Samoa. Several of the most visible and important invitees to Samoa, like President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa. had decided to skip an audience with the King and instead to join the court of Vladimir Putin this week.
Putin’s press conference was attended by 300 journalists, mostly foreign guests attached to the delegations of the more than 30 BRICS+ and “Outreach” countries in attendance. There was also a sprinkling of journalists from ‘unfriendly countries,’ of whom Rosenberg was the most prominent.
As a hint of what was to come, the Russian cameramen scanning the audience more than once paused to direct their cameras at Rosenberg. And then when the Q&A was underway, Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov instructed his assistants to pass the microphone to Rosenberg, given that he had become such a ‘rare guest’ these days.
It was clear at once that both Putin and Rosenberg were well prepared for what followed.
If the Pentagon and Russian Ministry of Defense can discreetly communicate to avoid catastrophic escalation of hostilities between their respective proteges in the Middle East, as indeed seemed to be the case in the past week, then why should Dmitry Peskov not have invited Rosenberg to speak on condition that he reveal in advance what he would be asking?
You can watch the exchange on this BBC podcast:
Vladimir Putin: Watch Steve Rosenberg challenge Russian president over Ukraine war
|
What is most striking is that the podcast captures not only what Rosenberg asked but also captures most of what Vladimir Putin said in return. This must have been painful to the ears of the Russophobes in London. Here again logic dictates that this was part of a pre-arranged deal. I offer this as a straw in the wind, a herald of the possible return of common sense in Western capitals one of these days.
Rosenberg had a double question to pose. In the first he made reference to principles adopted by the Summit leaders and set out in their Kazan Declaration, and also to what he called Russia’s ‘slogan,’ namely that it stands for ‘justice, stability and security.’ Said Rosenberg, how does this square with Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine? And as for security, isn’t Russia now experiencing drone attacks on its cities, which never happened before the war in Ukraine?
Rosenberg’s second question requested that Putin comment on MI5 reports that his country is behind the chaos that has broken out in cities across Europe.
Vladimir Putin gave a lengthy answer to the first question, which I will describe here only in part lest this essay become tedious.
Said Putin, the security situation of Russia was far worse before the start of the Special Military Situation than it is now, because the country saw its sovereignty under attack from the West, and without full sovereignty Russia cannot exist as a nation state. Russia was being pushed into what was deemed to be its proper place, as a supplier of raw materials on others’ terms. The West lied to his face with respect to there being no expansion of NATO to the East. As for ‘justice,’ the West staged a coup d’etat in Kiev in 2014 that violated all international laws. It then prepared Ukraine as a base for military operations against Russia. The Minsk agreements were used to buy time to build the Ukrainian forces. What justice was there in the West’s flouting the principle of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe whereby the security of one nation cannot be built at the expense of the security of another?
As for the violent demonstrations that have broken out in cities across Europe, the blame lies with the leadership of those countries whose misguided policies, especially their prohibition on purchase of cheap Russian gas and its substitution by very dear American LNG has caused severe domestic economic problems and a falling standard of living. This is what is behind the demonstrations.
The BBC podcast presents a bit more of this riposte from Putin. His full response is available on numerous youtube videos via their search box.
It bears mention that Putin also took a couple of questions from another hostile Western broadcaster. NBC’s Keir Simmons was given the microphone to ask about the rumored threat by Donald Trump in a phone conversation with the Russian President that he was ready to order a missile strike on the center of Moscow. Putin said that he had no recollection of such a conversation and he redirected the discussion to time present, noting that Trump has been saying he will act to put an end to the war in Ukraine, and that Russia welcomes such initiatives from all those who propose them. Simmons’ second question was of greater general interest: he alluded to intelligence reports that there are photos showing that North Korean soldiers are now being deployed in Russia to fight on the battlefield in Ukraine.
Putin did not confirm or deny the reports of North Koreans being brought in to fight. Instead, he made reference to Article 4 of the comprehensive partnership treaty that he had signed during his visit to Pyongyang this spring and which the State Duma had just ratified. Article 4, per Putin provides that each signatory must provide assistance to its counterpart should it be subjected to aggression from third parties. Since the Ukrainian incursion in Kursk constitutes an act of aggression, the provisions of the treaty are being implemented.
This last exchange alone ensured that the press conference would receive front page coverage in Western mainstream today.
****
Of course, a great deal of interesting information about the present state and future plans of BRICS emerged during this press conference.
We learned, for example, that not only is BRICS not considering establishing its own currency to compete against the dollar and the euro, but it is also not considering establishing an equivalent to SWIFT for global exchange of information between banks with respect to cross-border transfers relating to trade and other payments. Instead, special attention is being given to the mechanisms for settlements in the national currencies to avoid disbalances. The plans appear to be limited to transfers between the BRICS countries and to be built upon the systems developed by China and Russia rather than something entirely new.
From the words of Putin yesterday it would appear that the Member states are applying more efforts to build out the New Development Bank so as to become a real alternative to the IMF and World Bank for emerging markets. So far, the NDB has built a portfolio of 100 projects with an overall value of about 30 billion dollars. There is a lot of work ahead in this direction. However, by consensus it appears that this work is in a good pair of hands: Dilma Rousseff is being offered a new contract to continue as head of the bank in its Beijing headquarters.
We also heard Vladimir Putin say in answer to one questioner that expansion of BRICS will be announced after invitations to join as ‘Partner Countries’ are extended to an already agreed upon group of countries and they have consented to undertake certain tasks. No list of the prospective invitees was issued yesterday, however an unofficial list was published today by the Indian commercial broadcaster WION: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Ciuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. If indeed the list is accurate and all do sign up that will give considerable additional political and economic heft to BRICS in the future without sacrificing the cohesion that the original founding members achieved over the course of many years.
©Gilbert Doctorow, 2024