2023-08-03 12:48:00
10:23 GMT, August 3, 2023
MOSCOW (Sputnik) – The accession to the BRICS group of countries such as Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) will strengthen the organization, declared the Kremlin spokesman, Dmitri Peskov.
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“We believe that the expansion of the BRICS in one way or another will contribute to the development and further strengthening of the organization,” Peskov told reporters.
He specified that “in any case, these are countries with which there is quite constructive interaction in various areas”, such as Argentina, Saudi Arabia and UAE.
However, the spokesperson called for not getting ahead of themselves, since it is an issue to be discussed among the member countries of the group, in particular, during their future summit, which will be held from August 22 to 24 in the South African city of Johannesburg.
Regarding the creation of a common currency for the BRICS, Peskov expressed his conviction that it is not currently achievable, but it must continue to be addressed.
On March 31, the vice-president of the Lower House of the Russian Parliament, Alexandr Babakov, announced that the BRICS is moving towards the creation of a new currency to replace the US dollar and explained that first, payments would be made in national currencies and later the circulation of a digital currency would be facilitated.
Likewise, the process of de-dollarization of the world economy is advancing inexorably, Peskov noted.
“The process of de-dollarization of the world economy is advancing inexorably, many countries are inclined to use national currencies in reciprocal payments,” the spokesperson told reporters.
“The expansion of the BRICS would configure a new geopolitical map”
Last June, the ambassador-at-large of the Russian Foreign Ministry to the BRICS group, Pável Kniázev, announced that de-dollarization will be one of the most important issues expected to be addressed at the next association summit.
The BRICS group —currently made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa— is an intergovernmental and informal economic-commercial association of five rapidly developing countries, where the objective of developing dialogue and multilateral cooperation is set.
Its Member States represent more than 20% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and 42% of the world population. Lately, countries such as Argentina, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Turkey and others have shown interest in joining the body.
The food pact
Commenting on the situation with the shipment of grain, Peskov stressed that Russia rejects the accusations of the head of European diplomacy, Joseph Borrellthat Russia supposedly delivers cheap grain to vulnerable countries to create new dependencies
“This is absolutely false, Russia has always been and continues to be, despite known problems, a reliable supplier,” the Kremlin spokesman told reporters.
The spokesman noted that Russia complies with all its obligations, however, the sanctions “illegal, from the point of view of international law,” hinder the satisfaction of a growing demand.
On July 31, Borrell wrote a letter to developing countries and the member states of the Group of Twenty (G20) to form a common position on the food pact.
In this message, the head of European diplomacy also accused Russia of allegedly “weaponizing food” by supplying vulnerable countries with limited shipments of the grain.
On July 27, Russian President Vladimir Putin declared that his country will supply 25,000 to 50,000 tons of free grain to several African countries, including Burkina Faso, Eritrea, and Mali, in the coming months. In July 2022, Russia , Turkey and the United Nations Organization (UN) signed an agreement to unblock the export of grains and fertilizers from Ukraine through the Black Sea. Ukrainian government representatives signed a similar document with Ankara and UN representatives.
Since then the agreement has been extended three times, the last time on May 17, for two months.
Putin confirms his willingness to return to the cereal pact if the West fulfills the commitments
Russia formulated five requirements to extend the food pact beyond July 17: the reconnection of its agricultural bank, Rosselkhozbank, to the SWIFT system; the resumption of supplies of agricultural machinery, spare parts and maintenance; the lifting of the ban on access to ports; the reactivation of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline; and the unblocking of foreign assets and accounts of Russian companies related to the production and transportation of food and fertilizers.
In the absence of progress on this matter, the Kremlin announced that Russia is suspending its participation in the agreement, but is willing to resume it as soon as its conditions are met.
As of July 20, Russia considers as military objectives the ships that sail in the Black Sea towards Ukrainian ports, and as parties to the conflict to the respective countries. Ukraine issued a similar warning in relation to Russian ports in the Black Sea basin, effective July 21.
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