The West’s attempts to isolate Russia are failing

The BRICS summit in Kazan, chaired by Russia, has attracted great international attention because it conveys many messages in the current geopolitical context and that of the future.

The West has sought to isolate Russia internationally, defeat it militarily and, through a series of draconian sanctions, cause the country’s economic collapse. None of these objectives have been achieved.

Russia’s ties with China have deepened strategically. India has maintained its strategic ties with Moscow despite Western pressure. Russia’s ties with several African countries have also gained new momentum. Moscow has a strong presence in the West Asia region and maintains close ties with key Arab countries. The partnership with a number of ASEAN countries is also gaining strength.

The expansion of the BRICS

The expansion of the BRICS in 2023, to include Egypt, the UAE, Iran, Ethiopia and Saudi Arabia, had already indicated how major countries in the South viewed Russia very differently from how the West saw it. The Global South views Russia as a friend and not an adversary. The fact that almost forty countries have shown interest in joining the BRICS, a forum in which Moscow plays a key role, means that Russia is an attractive partner for them.

The countries of the Global South are seeking a reformed international system that would reflect the shifts in the balance of power, both economic and political, that have occurred over the years, both economically and politically. They want more attention to be paid to their concerns and priorities.

The hypocrisy and double standards of the West’s “values-based” policies, its military interventions and the use of various means to bring about regime change, the use of sanctions as a policy tool, the weaponization of the dollar and global financial system by the US has increasingly encouraged non-Western countries to hedge against Western pressure by joining forums such as the BRICS. While Russia previously looked west, the West has turned its back on Russia, and now Russia is much more focused on its Eurasian identity and looking east.

Non-Western countries cannot withdraw from the existing international system or create their own. What they hope to do is change and reform the balance of power within the existing system to ensure greater equality and equality in its functioning. The countries of the Global South, which also have close relations with the West, are drawn to join or associate with the BRICS to increase their political, economic and security options.

With 24 world leaders attending the Kazan Summit, including those of five founding members and the four new permanent members, the West’s already failed attempts to isolate President Putin and Russia have been strongly rebuffed.

More members can bring complications

With so much interest in the BRICS in the Global South, the issue of expanding membership and the criteria for doing so have posed problems. BRICS is a consensus-based forum. Enlargement would make it more difficult to reach consensus on issues, affecting the functioning and credibility of the forum.

The meeting of BRICS foreign ministers in June 2024 in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia, which was also attended by the four new members, could not issue a joint communiqué due to differences of opinion on certain points.

President Putin himself publicly acknowledged the downside of any further expansion when he noted that the existing members have been working together for years now and know how the forum functions, and that the process of assimilating the new members into the methods and spirit of the forum be the immediate focus, and not its expansion.

The decision for the time being has therefore not been to expand BRICS membership, but to broaden its base by accepting new countries as partners. Developing a consensus within the BRICS on which countries should be admitted as partners was unlikely to be an easy exercise, as all BRICS members, old and new, had effective veto powers. It was necessary to ensure that no Member State was particularly favored by the choice of partners and that the final list reflected a balance between the preferences of the forum’s members.

A wide spread

Thirteen new BRICS partners have been accepted in Kazan: Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkey, Uganda, Uzbekistan and Vietnam. It is significant that this also includes four members of ASEAN. Much to its disappointment, Algeria was unable to become a member when the BRICS was expanded last year, but has now been granted partner status. Two important Central Asian countries have also become partners. Other Central Asian countries could of course not be included, because that would have weighed too much in favor of Russian interests. The inclusion of Belarus is already a clear Russian preference. The geographical spread of the new partner countries is striking.

Russia’s clear preference for Turkey has also been taken into account, given Turkey’s geopolitical importance to Russia, even though giving partner status to a NATO country may not seem to fit into the normal criteria for deciding on BRICS partnerships. Should NATO gain a foothold in the BRICS? From a Russian point of view, this would be a welcome political development on NATO’s eastern flank. The US, which sees the BRICS as an organization created to rival the West in the global system, would clearly be alarmed by Turkey’s decision.

Why Pakistan was kept away

It appears that China has not exercised its own special geopolitical preferences too visibly. Had the country been interested in Pakistan’s participation, which could well have been the case – if one were to recall that it had linked India’s SCO membership to Pakistan’s – it would have encountered strong opposition from India. In September 2024, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexey Overchuk, during a visit to Pakistan, had supported its inclusion in the BRICS, while also stating that such a decision should be based on consensus. India has clearly rejected any attempt to reach out to Pakistan, to the point that Pakistan appears not to have been invited to the summit.

India had reservations about Turkey becoming a partner due to its anti-Indian positions on Kashmir in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and in the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), as well as its role in blocking India’s membership of the nuclear suppliers. Group. Ultimately, India did not stand in the way of Turkey becoming a BRICS partner.

The last BRICS summit had approved Saudi Arabia’s membership but did not formally announce its acceptance. She was represented at the Kazan summit by her Foreign Minister. The Saudi Crown Prince hosted US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Riyadh while the summit took place in Kazan, which tells its own story.

Don’t overestimate

The importance of the BRICS’ extensive partnerships in Asia, Africa and Latin America cannot be underestimated. It shows dissatisfaction with the current international system. Non-Western countries want to put an end to the hegemony of the West. They suffer from the self-centered and arbitrary policies of the West. Strengthened multilateralism, reflected in multipolarity, is seen as the key to change.

At the same time, the pace at which BRICS can bring about this change should not be exaggerated. The BRICS’ objectives in forging alternatives to the dollar-dominated financial system are not easy to achieve. There is rivalry and division within the BRICS countries. Their political systems differ. Some are deeply anti-Western, while others have friendly ties with the West, even as they seek more space for themselves in a Western-dominated global system. The economic differences within the group are large. The policies of some help and harm the interests of the Global South.

All said and done, the BRICS expansion, with all its challenges, is a vehicle for a much-needed rebalancing within the global system, which India is also pursuing.

(Kanwal Sibal was foreign minister and ambassador to Turkey, Egypt, France and Russia, and deputy chief of mission in Washington.)

Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author