Russia: President Putin welcomes allies to Brics summit

The West has dubbed President Putin a pariah for invading Ukraine. They have leveled sanctions aiming to cut off Russis’s economy from global markets.

They even went on to push for an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Have all these efforts produce the desired results? How can you show the pressure is not working?

This week in the city of Kazan President Putin will greet more than 20 heads of state at the Brics summit of emerging economies.

Among the leaders invited are China’s Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian.

The Kremlin has called it one of the “largest-scale foreign policy events ever” in Russia.

“The clear message is that attempts to isolate Russia have failed,” thinks Chris Weafer, founding partner of consultancy firm Macro-Advisory.

“It’s a big part of the messaging from the Kremlin that Russia is withstanding sanctions. We know there are severe cracks beneath the surface. But at a geopolitical level Russia has all these friends and they’re all going to be Russia’s partners.”

So, who are Russia’s friends?

Brics stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. The grouping, often referred to as a counterweight to the Western-led world, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.Saudi Arabia, too, has been invited to join.

The Brics nations account for 45% of the global population. Added together, members’ economies are worth more than $28.5tn (£22tn). That’s around 28% of the global economy.

Russian officials have indicated that another 30 countries want to join Brics or seek closer ties with the club. Some of these nations will take part in the summit. In Kazan this week expect a lot of talk about Brics representing the “global majority”.

But apart from providing Vladimir Putin his moment on the geopolitical stage, what is the event likely to achieve?

Keen to ease the pressure from Western sanctions, the Kremlin leader will hope to convince Brics members to adopt an alternative to the dollar for global payments.

“A lot of the problems Russia’s economy is facing are linked to cross-border trade and payments. And a lot of that is linked to the US dollar,” says Mr Weafer.

“The US Treasury has enormous power and influence over global trade simply because the US dollar is the main currency for settling that. Russia’s main interest is in breaking the dominance of the US dollar. It wants Brics countries to create an alternative trade mechanism and cross-border settlement system that does not involve the dollar, the euro or any of the G7 currencies, so that sanctions won’t matter so much.