BLUF: Latest From the BRICS Summit

This week in Kazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin greeted prominent leaders of the ‘Global South’ for a flagship BRICS summit. Despite his country’s ongoing war in Ukraine, Putin continues his search to challenge the U.S.-led international order and flex his diplomatic heft. The attendance of UN Secretary-General António Guterres serves as a clear demonstration to the West, and to the rest, that Putin is far from a pariah on the world stage.

The summit, other than just being an effective propaganda tool for Putin, has been an opportunity for Russia to enhance its expanding cooperation with other BRICS states on a variety of shared objectives. More than just a club of G7 rejects, Putin explained that the BRICS nations are engaged in an effort to destroy the “classic colonialism” of the US-led world order, reshaping the geopolitical landscape under their own auspices.

The focus of the summit, therefore, has been to try and challenge America and its allies in the monetary sphere. By creating new, independent, and sanction-proof financial payment systems between BRICS members, Putin believes states can evade the significant consequences of the dollar being used as a weapon against them should they want to lash out.

While fissures remain within the group regarding exactly what BRICS actually stands for, the increasing levels of cooperation on monetary, economic, and security issues should be of massive concern for Western policymakers. To dismiss BRICS as nothing more than a Putin and Xi vanity project would be a mistake. As this summit has demonstrated, our adversaries are deadly serious about aligning their priorities and enhancing their joint capabilities to challenge the United States in any and every arena.

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