🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview to the TV BRICS international media network (Moscow, November 2, 2024)

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Key talking points

✅ The XVI BRICS Summit underscored the rapidly growing influence of #BRICS and the eagerness of numerous countries to engage with its initiatives.

• Several countries have applied to become full members, while others have expressed interest in joining as partner states – a new category established at the Summit in Kazan.

• The Kazan Declaration that was adopted was based of what we call the balance of interests. Unlike at some Western forums, there was no attempt to exert pressure on anyone. Instead, we sought mutually acceptable language, which we successfully identified on all matters.

👉 The highlight of this declaration is the urgent need to substantially increase the representation of countries from the Global South and Global East in global governance mechanisms, including the UN Security Council, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO.

• Reform of existing institutions remains on the agenda, but concurrently – and this is a shared perspective and one of the most significant conclusions of the BRICS efforts at this stage – leading up to the final phase of the Russian chairmanship, there is a collective desire to establish alternative payment mechanisms. <...> A parallel system is deemed necessary, given the dollar's increasing use as an aggressive tool in the global economy.

• Support was also given to sector-specific initiatives, including our proposal to begin preparations for establishing a BRICS grain exchange, as well as investment and geological platforms. This initiative primarily originated from the African countries within BRICS.

• Additionally, we proposed two projects – the formation of working groups on transport and nuclear medicine – which received backing both at the BRICS meeting itself and in the adopted Declaration.

🇺🇳 A more equitable representation of the Global South and East in global governance mechanisms implies reforming the UN and its Security Council.

• We have clearly reaffirmed our stance: we support only the increased representation of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The West is already disproportionately represented there. <...> Specifically, we support India, Brazil, and the collective initiative promoted by the African Union to reform the Security Council.

• Particular attention was paid to the crisis in the Middle East and the catastrophe facing the Palestinian people, which is now spilling over into neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The Declaration contains a robust paragraph on the urgent need to halt this bloodshed.

• We have not shied away from discussing the Ukrainian crisis. Quite the opposite, during the preparations and throughout the summit, we engaged in proactive discussions, with Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing this issue. We reached a fundamentally important agreement on the wording in the Declaration <...> emphasising that the primary objective now is to seek solutions based on the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and in interrelation.

❗️ The Nazi regime in Kiev flagrantly violates the key principles of the Charter, while the West praises it, claiming they are defending "European values." These issues must be brought to light.

#BRICS2024

🎙 Excerpts from President of Russia Vladimir Putin's speech in the plenary session of the 21st annual meeting of the Valdai International Discussion Club (November 7, 2024)

💬 Vladimir Putin: The moment of truth is fast approaching.

The former world arrangement is irreversibly passing away, actually it has already passed away, and a serious, irreconcilable struggle is unfolding for the development of a new world order. It is irreconcilable, above all, because this is not even a fight for power or geopolitical influence.

It is a clash of the very principles that will underlie the relations of countries and peoples at the next historical stage. Its outcome will determine whether we will be able, through joint efforts, to build a world that will allow all nations to develop and resolve emerging contradictions based on mutual respect for cultures and civilisations, without coercion and use of force. And finally, whether the human society will be able to retain its ethical humanistic principles, and whether an individual will be able to remain human.

At first glance, it might appear that there is no alternative. Yet, regrettably, there is. It is the dive of humanity into the depths of aggressive anarchy, internal and external splits, the erosion of traditional values, the emergence of new forms of tyranny, and the actual renunciation of the classical principles of democracy, along with fundamental rights and freedoms.

Increasingly often, democracy is being interpreted not as the rule of majority but of minority. Traditional democracy and the rule of the people are being set against an abstract notion of freedom, for the sake of which, as some argue, democratic procedures, elections, majority opinion, freedom of speech, and an unbiased media can be disregarded or sacrificed.

The peril lies in the imposition of totalitarian ideologies and making them the norm, as exemplified by the current state of Western liberalism. This modern Western liberalism, in my view, has degenerated into extreme intolerance and aggression towards any alternative or sovereign and independent thought. Today, it even seeks to justify neo-Nazism, terrorism, racism, and even the mass genocide of civilians.

Moreover, there are international conflicts and confrontations fraught with the danger of mutual destruction. Weapons that can cause this do exist and are being constantly improved, taking new forms as the technologies advance. The number of nations possessing such weapons is growing, and no one can guarantee that these weapons will not be used, especially if threats incrementally multiply and legal and moral norms are ultimately shattered.

❗️We have come close to the dangerous point.

The West’s calls to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia, a nation with the largest arsenal of nuclear weapons, reveal the reckless adventurism of certain Western politicians.

Such blind faith in their own impunity and exceptionalism could lead to a global catastrophe.

Efforts to cling to their diminishing power through force result only in widespread instability and more tensions, leading to casualties and destruction. However, these efforts fail to achieve the desired outcome of maintaining absolute, unchallenged power.

For the march of history cannot be halted.

On the use of national currencies in settlements between BRICS nations

See more on the Kremlin’s official website.