Title: Russia’s Global Isolation Highlighted at BRICS Summit
Subtitle: Putin’s ambitions for an anti-Western BRICS bloc face resistance from within and reveal his growing international isolation.
China has hailed the proposed expansion of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa) as a significant step towards creating a new multipolar world. While Russian President Vladimir Putin has long seen BRICS as a way to counter Western dominance, his global isolation was underscored at the recent summit. Due to an indictment by the International Criminal Court over the abductions of Ukrainian children, Putin could not attend the summit in person and had to join via video link.
During the summit, Putin adopted a defensive tone and accused the West of engaging in illegal actions and violating basic norms through sanctions and other measures. He emphasized that Russia is against any kind of hegemony and blamed the West for the crisis in Ukraine. Meanwhile, China’s President Xi Jinping echoed Putin’s sentiments, expressing his desire for BRICS to become an anti-Western bloc and calling for a fight against economic coercion and decoupling.
However, experts suggest that Putin and Xi face resistance from within BRICS, particularly from India and Brazil, which have stronger ties with the United States and Europe. Boris Bondarev, a former Russian diplomat, highlighted that no country in BRICS is willing to risk the global isolation currently faced by Russia. Moreover, the desire of many nations to join BRICS reflects the Global South’s search for new instruments to raise their concerns and be heard by the West.
China’s push for expansion within BRICS risks exposing divisions among the member countries. Comparison is drawn to the European Union’s expansion in the early 2000s, which resulted in divisions and challenges within the bloc. The call for expansion also comes at a time when China is facing economic concerns, such as declining property sales and youth unemployment.
Overall, while BRICS continues to be viewed as a counterweight to Western dominance by Russia and China, the summit revealed the lack of cohesion and common goals among member countries. Experts suggest that BRICS remains a “superficial structure” without a strong unifying force. Nevertheless, the expanded bloc could still serve as a platform for emerging economies to assert their sovereignty and pursue development, presenting a modest form of resistance against the United States.