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Russian President Vladimir Putin is set to host a BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, aiming to demonstrate Russia's resilience in the face of Western sanctions over the invasion of Ukraine. Initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, BRICS has expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the UAE, and potentially Saudi Arabia. The Summit provides Putin with an opportunity to bolster Russia's economic and strategic alliances, including efforts to create an alternative to the SWIFT payment system. Additionally, Russia is expected to strengthen military ties with Iran and explore new economic initiatives with other BRICS members. Jennifer Wistrand, Deputy Director of the Kennan Institute, provides an overview of the goals for the summit. She comments on the symbolic nature of the meeting, its new members and potential for growth, and why the West needs to work on convincing countries that its liberal world order is preferable to the one that Russia and its allies represent.

Transcript of Video

  • So one of the biggest outcomes of the summit is likely to be more symbolic than anything else. The West has wanted to demonstrate that Russia is a pariah state in the international order, that it's isolated on the international arena. And to some extent, the West has succeeded through its sanctions policies and other policies. 

    However, the fact that Russia can convene an international summit with this number of high level delegates suggests that it isn't isolated to the extent the West would like. And so I think more than anything, one of the biggest outcomes is going to be the symbolic nature of it. If Russia can indeed pull off, without any international incidents happening in Kazan, Russia, a large international summit with the leaders, heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa, as well as the four new members, as well as potentially Turkey, that is going to be a significant achievement.

    So there are going to be four new members, or four members that have actually already been added this year: Iran, United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Egypt and also Saudi Arabia is purported to be the fifth member, though, it's the status of its membership is still a bit in flux. So to have those new members coming on and then there are upwards of anywhere between two dozen and 30 other countries that have expressed an interest in also joining group.

    That's significant because these countries span the continents. You have Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, who's a longstanding member of NATO, Turkey is the second strongest army within NATO, who has indicated that he's going to attend the summit. And then Turkey might actually want to join the group as well.

    The longstanding objectives of the organization have been to be a counterweight to the West. So, for example, to foster South-South cooperation, to establish an international development bank similar to the World Bank or the other multilateral development banks through which countries can loan, and a bigger objective, which has been talked about in the upcoming summit, is this idea of creating a currency that can be a counterweight to the US dollar, the idea that there could be a reserve currency, that it's not the US currency. 

    It's not at a point where the West should be seriously concerned or alarmed that somehow the dollar is going to be supplanted. But the fact that these discussions are taking place, and the fact that you have a larger number of countries taking part in them is cause for concern. 

    And what will come out of it for the West is to realize one, not only is Russia not as isolated as it hopes, but two, it really does have to do a better job of selling the post-World War 2 liberal order to the countries that we commonly referred to in the global South.

    I think that has been, if nothing else, one of the biggest outcomes of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. There are a lot of countries that have either not explicitly stated that they're opposed to Russia, or they're just not making any comments at all. And so this reinforces the fact that Russia still does have, even if tenuous, somewhat of a sway over a large number of countries.

Guest

Jennifer Wistrand

Jennifer S. Wistrand

Deputy Director, Kennan Institute
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Hosted By

Kennan Institute

The Kennan Institute is the premier US center for advanced research on Eurasia and the oldest and largest regional program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. The Kennan Institute is committed to improving American understanding of Russia, Ukraine, Central Asia, the South Caucasus, and the surrounding region though research and exchange.  Read more