Putin blasts West at summit aimed at boosting Russia's global influence

Russian President Vladimir Putin closed a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies on Thursday, praising its role as a counterweight to what he called the West's perverse methods.

The three-day summit in the city of Kazan brought together leaders or representatives from 36 countries, underscoring the failure of U.S.-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions since its invasion. Ukraine.

The conflict was raised several times during the meeting, which saw the first visit to Russia by UN Secretary-General Antnio Guterres in more than two years, and sparked an angry response from the government Ukrainian in kyiv. Guterres called for a just peace in Ukraine, in accordance with the United Nations Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions. He also called for an immediate end to fighting in Gaza, Lebanon and Sudan.

At a news conference Thursday evening, Putin was asked about former President Trump's promise to end the fighting in Ukraine.

What Mr. Trump said recently, what I heard, [is] he spoke of the desire to do everything to end the conflict in Ukraine, Putin said. It seems to me that he said it sincerely. We certainly welcome statements like this, regardless of who makes them.

Ukraine took Trump's comments to mean he might try to leverage a cut in U.S. military aid to pressure it into passing a resolution with conditions favorable to Russia.

The summit focused on deepening financial cooperation, including the development of alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems, efforts to resolve regional conflicts and the expansion of the BRICS group of nations.

BRICS, which included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa when it was established in 2009, has expanded to include Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the Arab Emirates United States and Saudi Arabia. Turkey, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.

The Kremlin billed the summit as Russia's largest foreign policy event ever.

Speaking at what was dubbed the BRICS Plus session, attended by countries considering joining the bloc, Putin accused the West of trying to stem the growing power of the Global South with perverse methods, including sanctions and relentless foreign influence, ostensibly promoting democracy and human rights. , and the climate change program.

Russia has been pushing for the creation of a new payments system that would offer an alternative to the global banking messaging network SWIFT and allow Moscow to avoid Western sanctions and trade with its partners.

In a joint statement, the participants expressed concern over the disruptive effect of illegal unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions, and reiterated their commitment to strengthening financial cooperation within BRICS.

Chinese President Xi Jinping has highlighted the bloc's role in ensuring global security. Xi noted that China and Brazil have presented a peace plan for Ukraine and sought to rally broader international support for the plan. Ukraine rejected the proposal.

We should promote de-escalation of the situation as soon as possible and pave the way for a political settlement, Xi said.

Putin and Xi announced a no-holds-barred partnership weeks before Russia sent troops to Ukraine in 2022. They had already met twice this year, in Beijing in May and at a summit of the Organization of cooperation from Shanghai to Kazakhstan in July.

Cooperation between Russia and India has also flourished as New Delhi views Moscow as a proven partner since the Cold War, despite Russia's close ties with its Indian rival China. While Western allies want New Delhi to be more active in persuading Moscow to end the fighting in Ukraine, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has avoided condemning Russia.

Addressing the BRICS Plus session, Guterres called for an immediate end to fighting in Gaza, Lebanon, Ukraine and Sudan. We need peace in Ukraine, a just peace, consistent with the United Nations Charter, international law and General Assembly resolutions, he said.

Kremlin-controlled Russian media portrayed the summit as a massive political coup that left the West fearing a loss of global influence. State television broadcasts and news bulletins have emphasized that BRICS countries account for about half of the world's population, constitute the global majority and challenge Western hegemony.

TV hosts widely cited Western media reports saying the summit had highlighted the failure of Moscow's isolation. The West, the United States, Washington, Brussels and London ended up isolating themselves, said Eugene Popov, host of a popular political debate on public channel Rossiya 1.

Los Angeles Times staff contributed to this report.