📸 #PhotoOfTheDay

🤝 Joint photo of the leaders of the BRICS nations' delegations at the XVI BRICS Summit in the Outreach/BRICS Plus format.

📍 Kazan, October 24, 2024

#BRICS2024

#BRICS2024

🎙 President of Russia Vladimir Putin's remarks at the Plenary Session of the XVI BRICS Summit in the BRICS Plus/Outreach format (Kazan, October 24, 2024)

👉 In full

💬 Vladimir Putin: I am delighted to welcome all of you to the BRICS Plus/Outreach-format meeting. This inclusive platform has proven its worth by enabling the BRICS group participants to engage in a direct and open dialogue with their friends and partners. <...>

According to our agenda, we will discuss the most pressing issues the international community is facing today, including sustainable development, eradication of poverty, climate change adaptation, exchanging technology and knowledge, fighting terrorism and transborder crime.

We will focus particularly on the peaceful resolution of conflicts, certainly including a serious discussion of the deteriorating situation in the Middle East.

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#MultipolarWorld

🌐 All our countries share similar aspirations, values and a vision of a new democratic world order that reflects cultural and civilisational diversity. We are confident that such a system should be guided by the universal principles of respect for the legitimate interests and sovereign choice of nations, respect for international law and a spirit of mutually beneficial, honest co-operation.

☝️ The transition to a more just international system is not easy. Its development is being hampered by forces whose thinking and actions continue to be aimed at dominating everything and everyone. Under the guise of a rule-based order they are imposing on the world, they are actually attempting to contain growing competition and prevent the independent development of countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America that they cannot control.

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#MiddleEast

The current round of the Palestinian-Israeli confrontation is probably one of the most sanguinary in the long list of conflicts. Over 40,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the ongoing hostilities in the Gaza Strip. I would like to emphasise that we have always come out against the use of terrorist methods. <...>

Since the start of the escalation, we have joined forces with our BRICS and other partners to contribute to a settlement. <...>

I would like to repeat that the main condition for restoring peace and stability in the Palestinian territories is the realisation of the two-state formula approved by the UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.

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#EurasianSecurity

The countries represented in this room have immense opportunities and resources at their disposal and play a prominent role on the international stage. They have been using their standing to enhance global security and promote sustainable development around the world. <...>

Russia advocated the idea of creating an inclusive system of equitable and indivisible security for Eurasia free from any discrimination.

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#UnitedNations

🇺🇳 The UN must retain its central role in efforts to maintain peace and security and facilitate sustainable and steady development.

To ensure the effective functioning of the UN in the future, we believe it is important to adapt its structures to the realities of the 21st century, expanding the representation of countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America, including those whose leaders are present here, in the Security Council and other key international bodies.

An effort to reform UN development institutions and global financial structures has long been overdue. <...>

The founding fathers of the United Nations believed that its purpose was to enable nations to come together and agree on joint actions.

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❗️ Russia, like all BRICS countries, is open to cooperation with all countries of the Global South and East to promote inclusive and sustainable development and ultimately build a better world.

#BRICS2024

🎙 Remarks and answers to media questions by President of Russia Vladimir Putin following the results of the XVI BRICS Summit in Kazan (October 24, 2024)

💬 Vladimir Putin: The XVI BRICS Summit has just concluded with great success.

It marked the culmination of Russia's chairmanship of the group and was one of the significant events on the global political calendar.

<...>

Regarding the Kazan Summit itself, delegations from 35 countries and six international organisations participated in it, as you are already aware. Such broad representation clearly underscores the authority and role of BRICS, as well as the growing interest in cooperation with us from states that are indeed pursuing truly independent and sovereign policies.

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📄 The Kazan Declaration which summed up the discussions was approved at the Summit.

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In Kazan, we reaffirmed that BRICS is not a closed format; it is open to all those who share BRICS values. The Group's members are prepared to work towards identifying joint solutions without external pressure or attempts to enforce narrow approaches upon anyone. BRICS is compelled to respond to the burgeoning demand in the world for such cooperation. Accordingly, we devoted particular attention to the matter of potential BRICS expansion through the establishment of a new category — that of partner states.

The Summit has concluded. I wish to express my gratitude once again to all my colleagues, who travelled to Kazan, for their contributions to our collective efforts. I must highlight that their input was quite substantial.

***

Answers to media questions. Key points:

Prospects for the settlement of the Ukrainian crisis

• All the parties are in favour of resolving the conflict at the earliest opportunity, preferably through peaceful means. You may be aware that the People's Republic of China and Brazil put forward an initiative at the General Assembly in New York. Numerous BRICS nations endorse these initiatives, and we, in turn, extend our gratitude to our partners for their attention to this conflict and their pursuit of methods to resolve it.

• We are ready to discuss a peace agreement in any shape or form based on the reality on the ground. That is to say, I am not ready to accept anything else.

On alleged Russia's interference in the US electoral process and the prospects for normalization of Russia-US relations

• This issue has been making headlines for years now. <...> However, after an investigation conducted in the United States, everyone, including US Congress, concluded that it was utter nonsense and that nothing of the kind ever happened. There were no contacts back then, and there are none now.

• Russia-US relations after the elections depend primarily on the United States. If the United States is open to building normal relations with Russia, we will do the same. If not, so be it. This is up to the future Administration.

On global and regional stability, security and building a just world

• Is it fair in terms of security that you have for years disregarded our repeated requests to our partners not to expand NATO eastward? Is it fair that you lied through your teeth, saying that the bloc would not expand while doing precisely that in violation of your commitments? <...> Is it fair that you violated your commitments within the OSCE, when all Western countries signed a document stating that no country may ensure its security at the expense of other countries?

❗️This is not fair. We want to change this, and we will change it.

The situation in the Middle East

• I believe that there is no person on Earth whose heart does not bleed when they see what is happening in Gaza. Over 40,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed.

• The solution can only be found by addressing the root causes, the primary one being the lack of a fully recognized, sovereign Palestinian state. It is necessary to implement all relevant UN Security Council resolutions on this matter.

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🎙 Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov's interview to the TV BRICS international media network (Moscow, November 2, 2024)

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Key talking points

✅ The XVI BRICS Summit underscored the rapidly growing influence of #BRICS and the eagerness of numerous countries to engage with its initiatives.

• Several countries have applied to become full members, while others have expressed interest in joining as partner states – a new category established at the Summit in Kazan.

• The Kazan Declaration that was adopted was based of what we call the balance of interests. Unlike at some Western forums, there was no attempt to exert pressure on anyone. Instead, we sought mutually acceptable language, which we successfully identified on all matters.

👉 The highlight of this declaration is the urgent need to substantially increase the representation of countries from the Global South and Global East in global governance mechanisms, including the UN Security Council, the IMF, the World Bank, and the WTO.

• Reform of existing institutions remains on the agenda, but concurrently – and this is a shared perspective and one of the most significant conclusions of the BRICS efforts at this stage – leading up to the final phase of the Russian chairmanship, there is a collective desire to establish alternative payment mechanisms. <...> A parallel system is deemed necessary, given the dollar's increasing use as an aggressive tool in the global economy.

• Support was also given to sector-specific initiatives, including our proposal to begin preparations for establishing a BRICS grain exchange, as well as investment and geological platforms. This initiative primarily originated from the African countries within BRICS.

• Additionally, we proposed two projects – the formation of working groups on transport and nuclear medicine – which received backing both at the BRICS meeting itself and in the adopted Declaration.

🇺🇳 A more equitable representation of the Global South and East in global governance mechanisms implies reforming the UN and its Security Council.

• We have clearly reaffirmed our stance: we support only the increased representation of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The West is already disproportionately represented there. <...> Specifically, we support India, Brazil, and the collective initiative promoted by the African Union to reform the Security Council.

• Particular attention was paid to the crisis in the Middle East and the catastrophe facing the Palestinian people, which is now spilling over into neighbouring countries such as Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, and Yemen. The Declaration contains a robust paragraph on the urgent need to halt this bloodshed.

• We have not shied away from discussing the Ukrainian crisis. Quite the opposite, during the preparations and throughout the summit, we engaged in proactive discussions, with Russian President Vladimir Putin addressing this issue. We reached a fundamentally important agreement on the wording in the Declaration <...> emphasising that the primary objective now is to seek solutions based on the principles of the UN Charter in their entirety and in interrelation.

❗️ The Nazi regime in Kiev flagrantly violates the key principles of the Charter, while the West praises it, claiming they are defending "European values." These issues must be brought to light.

#BRICS2024