Financial Cooperation and BRICS Expansion are on the Table as Putin Hosts Global South Leaders

Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Pool via REUTERS
Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Pool via REUTERS
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Financial Cooperation and BRICS Expansion are on the Table as Putin Hosts Global South Leaders

Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Pool via REUTERS
Russia's President Vladimir Putin gives a speech during the extended format meeting of the BRICS summit in Kazan, Russia on October 23, 2024. ALEXANDER NEMENOV/Pool via REUTERS

Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday hosted China’s Xi Jinping, India’s Narendra Modi and other world leaders at a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, part of the Kremlin's efforts to challenge Western global clout.
Putin said the agenda covered the deepening of financial cooperation, including the development of alternatives to Western-dominated payment systems, as well as settling regional conflicts and moving to expand the BRICS group of countries.
“The BRICS strategy in the global arena conforms with the strivings of the main part of the global community, the so-called global majority,” Putin said at the start of Wednesday's meeting. “This approach is especially relevant in the current conditions when truly radical changes are underway across the globe, including the shaping of a multipolar world.”
The alliance that initially included Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa has expanded to embrace Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. Türkiye, Azerbaijan and Malaysia have formally applied to become members, and several other countries have expressed interest in joining.
The three-day summit in the city of Kazan that began Tuesday is attended by 36 countries, highlighting the failure of US-led efforts to isolate Russia over its actions in Ukraine. The Kremlin touted the summit as “the largest foreign policy event ever held” by Russia.
The Kremlin has cast BRICS as a counterbalance to the Western-dominated global order and redoubled its efforts to court the countries of the Global South after sending troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
Russia has specifically pushed for the creation of a new payment system that would offer an alternative to the global bank messaging network SWIFT and allow Moscow to dodge Western sanctions and trade with partners.
Speaking at the summit, Putin accused the US of “weaponizing” the dollar and described it as a “big mistake.”
“It’s not us who refuse to use the dollar,” he said. “But if they don’t let us work, what can we do? We are forced to search for alternatives.”
He also proposed creating a new BRICS investment platform, saying that it could “become a powerful tool for supporting our economies, and would also provide financial resources to countries of the Global South and East.”
In a joint declaration, the summit participants voiced concern about “the disruptive effect of unlawful unilateral coercive measures, including illegal sanctions” and reiterated their commitment to enhancing financial cooperation within BRICS. They noted the benefits of “faster, low-cost, more efficient, transparent, safe and inclusive cross-border payment instruments built upon the principle of minimizing trade barriers and non-discriminatory access.”
Putin and Xi had announced a “no-limits” partnership weeks before Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. They already met twice earlier this year, in Beijing in May and at a Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Kazakhstan in July.
On Wednesday, Xi emphasized the bloc’s role in ensuring global security. "We must work together to build BRICS into a primary channel for strengthening solidarity and cooperation among Global South nations and a vanguard for advancing global governance reform," he said.
Xi noted that China and Brazil have put forward a peace plan for Ukraine and sought to rally broader international support for it. Ukraine has rejected the proposal.
“We must uphold the three key principles: no expansion of the battlefields, no escalation of hostilities, and no fanning flames and strive for swift deescalation of the situation,” Xi said of the Ukrainian conflict.
Russia’s cooperation with India has also flourished as New Delhi sees Moscow as a time-tested partner since Cold War times despite Russia’s close ties with India’s main rival, China. Western allies want India to be more active in persuading Moscow to end the fighting in Ukraine, but Modi has avoided condemning Russia while emphasizing a peaceful settlement.
“We support dialogue and diplomacy, not war,” Modi said during Wednesday's BRICS meeting in remarks carried by the Indian foreign ministry. Modi's visit to the summit marked his second trip to Russia in three months.
“As a diverse and inclusive platform, BRICS can play a positive role in all areas,” Modi said.
Putin on Wednesday met on the sidelines of the summit with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, hailing “truly friendly” ties between Moscow and Tehran and noting that they should be further cemented by a “comprehensive strategic partnership treaty” to be signed during Pezehskian's planned trip to Moscow. The date for that visit hasn't been set yet, but Kremlin foreign affairs adviser Yuri Ushakov said it could happen soon.
On Thursday, Putin was set to meet Thursday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who has repeatedly criticized Moscow's actions in Ukraine and is making his first visit to Russia in more than two years. Guterres's trip to Kazan has drawn an angry reaction from Kyiv.
“This is a wrong choice that does not advance the cause of peace,” Ukraine's Foreign Ministry said on X, adding that “it only damages the UN’s reputation.”
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for Guterres, responded to the Ukrainian criticism by saying that the visit is “a standard practice in attending meetings of organizations with large numbers of important member states, such as the G7 and the G20.”
“There’s a meeting with great importance for the work of the United Nations, with the BRICS countries representing about half the world’s population,” Haq said.
In the meeting with Putin, Guterres “will reaffirm his well-known positions on the war in Ukraine and the conditions for a just peace based on the UN Charter, international law, and the resolutions of the United Nations. He will continue to pursue his efforts to re-establish safe navigation in the Black Sea, which is critically important for global food and energy security, especially for the most vulnerable countries around the world,” Haq said.



Biden Casts Early Ballot for Harris as Election Day Nears

 President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)
President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)
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Biden Casts Early Ballot for Harris as Election Day Nears

 President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)
President Joe Biden, center, holds an "I Voted Early" sticker upon exiting the voting booth after casting his early-voting ballot for the 2024 general elections, Monday, Oct. 28, 2024, in New Castle, Del. (AP)

President Joe Biden has cast an early ballot in the 2024 general election.

It's a bittersweet moment for Biden, who decided to end his reelection campaign in July because of growing concerns about his health and Democrats' worries about his chances of defeating former President Donald Trump.  

Biden voted on Monday at the state of Delaware Department of Elections, not far from his home outside Wilmington, Delaware at an early voting site, where voters were lined up down the street to cast ballots.

Biden chatted with voters as he waited in line to cast his ballot, and helped push an older woman in a wheelchair who ahead of him. The president waited in line for about 40 minutes before he cast his ballot.

He handed his identification to the election worker, who had him sign a form and announced: “Joseph Biden now voting.”

As the president cast his ballot behind a black drape, some first-time voters were announced and the room erupted in cheers for them.

For all but a few years since 1970, Biden has either held office or been running for one during election season.

But this year, his hopes lie with a newer generation of Democrats, including three on the Delaware ballot looking to make history.

Vice President Kamala Harris, whom Biden endorsed after dropping out, is vying to become the first Black woman and first person of South Asian descent to serve as president.