BRICS’ Russia Summit message to the West: “We are here. You have to listen.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin – who is hosting the latest BRICS Summit – has managed to demonstrate to the world that he is not isolated at all – and that – together with China – he leads the Global South. So says Russian historian, Professor Irina Filatova. In this interview with BizNews, she says BRICS sees itself as fighting for a new multipolar world – and that the addition of the new members, particularly Iran, has pushed BRICS away from cooperation with the West. She describes as the biggest take-out from the Summit, "the huge announcement by the Global South. We are here and you have to listen to us." She adds: "It may be that this summit actually was a point in the international relations and in the global situation that we shall remember as a turning point which will mark the strengthening, final strengthening of the rest at the expense of the West, or it may not. It may be completely different and the world may collapse into a host of different groupings, conflicts and fighting interests both on the battlefield and in the trade relations, the economy, etc." Professor Filatova also describes the impact a new BRICS financial system could have on the current global financial system. Furthermore, she analyses the implications of North Korea entering the war against Ukraine.
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Extended transcript of the interview ___STEADY_PAYWALL___
Chris Steyn (00:01.915)
The BRICS summit in Russia ends today. We speak to Russian historian, Professor Irina Filatova. Welcome, Professor.
Irina Filatova (00:11.938)
Hello.
Chris Steyn (00:14.767)
Russian President Vladimir Putin must be very pleased with himself. He has shown the West that it has not been able to isolate him. Would you describe the summit as a triumph for him?
Irina Filatova (00:27.502)
I would agree with this definition. It is certainly true because look, more than 20 heads of state came to Kazan to shake his hand and they were very important heads of state. I'm not speaking about the representatives of members of BRICS countries only, but the president of Turkey, Tayyip Erdogan…look of course, the leaders of China and India, but even the United Nations General Secretary Guterres came to see Putin and to meet all other members. So, yes, certainly he managed to demonstrate to the world that he is not isolated at all. And that actually he is, as he tries to project this image, that he leads the global South, or at least together with China, he leads the global South. And that's very important.
Chris Steyn (01:41.253)
Now this summit is the first of the expanded BRICS. What's the biggest difference you've seen since the last summit?
Irina Filatova (01:49.894)
Well, the biggest difference I see is that both China and Russia, but particularly Russia, were pulling the BRICS members, or have been pulling, away from the West.
BRICS started as a group of countries which is not challenging the West. It just wants to adjust the world, the global economic and political system to suit their interests better. It is going to improve the international relations regulating system. There was no idea of the challenge.
Now it is all completely different. And I think that the addition of the new members, particularly of such a member as Iran, did push BRICS away from the West and away from the cooperation with the West in which not every BRICS country is interested and not every BRICS country will agree to that.
But the rhetoric has certainly become more anti-Western, more challenging. And to the degree that some countries, like Iran, for example, would like to get rid of that Western-dominated world completely. I mean, Western-dominated international institutions, global economic system, global political system. And so that's the idea. I think that was the result of the enlargement of the BRICS.
Chris Steyn (03:51.964)
Now more countries still want to join BRICS. Would further expansion strengthen BRICS or would it complicate the power play? Because ultimately who's going to have the most power?
Irina Filatova (04:04.27)
Well, we do not know what will happen with the expansion, to tell you the truth. We do not know to what extent China will be able to play the dominant role as it did economically and politically since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And China also has a huge political influence there. But, you know, we do not know what is going to happen.
My impression is that the further enlargement will complicate finding the consensus because BRICS does not have any rules guiding the members. Everything is achieved by consensus. And whether any consensus will be easy to achieve or even possible to achieve with so many states participating, I do not know.
But one thing is certain and that is that the global South, global East, demonstrate their might, their power, their ability to influence the world's events to the Western dominated world.
Chris Steyn (05:17.125)
What would the impact be of a new BRICS financial system on the current global financial system?
Irina Filatova (05:24.878)
You know so far the West didn't pay much attention to what BRICS does or what resolutions it takes. Well, okay, they want the improved better system of financial relations. Okay, we can go along with that. We are working on it ourselves. We understand that it it needs to be reformed, but so far there was no concrete danger or concrete threat coming from BRICS to the existing financial institutions.
Now BRICS has come with the idea of a common currency. This does not mean that there will be the sort of material expression of currency like the dollar notes or whatever. This is a digital currency and it's not even a currency, it is a system of digital platforms which will allow the transactions between the states without any involvement at all of the American institutions because the dollar, of course, the strength of the dollar is that it involves all of the deals which are concluded in dollars to go through the American banks through SWIFT. That was the power of the dollar and that was what the American power actually is based to a very large extent.
With this digital platform, it's not the only one that is in the making. There is another one which was actually the Americans themselves have been experimenting with such a thing. But of course, it is not quite clear yet how it will operate and to what extent it will endanger the dollar. After all, the dollar system is very strong and it is only two countries and BRICS which have a real need in the new currency and that's Russia and Iran which are under American sanctions.
Chris Steyn (08:13.233)
Now, judging by remarks made by South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, the relationship between Russia and South Africa is as strong as ever. However, that is in conflict with the African National Congress's coalition partner in the Government of National unity, the Democratic Alliance, and they have distanced themselves from his remarks. How do you see that playing out and what is the greatest significance?
Irina Filatova (08:41.182)
Well, look, actually this is a reflection of what the new multipolar world is going to look like, if you will, because BRICS sees itself as fighting for a new multipolar world. We do not know how it is, what is going to happen in this new multipolar world, but it will be full of such contradictions.
Of course, the foreign policy is not the most important question for GNU, and so far the DA has agreed to, unwillingly and with objections, but managed to participate in the GNU despite these contradictions.
What is important for it is the domestic policy. But what happens in the future when these issues become more more more important, if you look at the position of South Africa in this BRICS, at this BRICS meeting, what Ramaphosa said there was that the Security Council is ineffective and it cannot even implement the decisions of the International Criminal Court where South Africa was very active. But the contradiction in this position is that South Africa is very active in denouncing the Israeli war against Hamas, but it is absolutely silent about Russia's war against Ukraine. So how this is going to be resolved by the enlarged Security Council which South Africa is fighting for together with other African countries and other countries of BRICS I am not sure.
Even the enlargement itself is rather a contradictory point because not everybody not every member of BRICS wants this enlargement and not really not every member of BRICS agrees about who should participate and on what conditions. So whether these issues are going to be peacefully resolved remains to be seen.
Chris Steyn (11:15.599)
What would you describe as the biggest takeout from this summit?
Irina Filatova (11:20.652)
Biggest take out is the huge announcement by the Global South. We are here and you have to listen to us.
But the message of that Global South, apart from it being annoyed with the Western dominated world, is not quite clear yet and it will not be clear for a very long time.
It may be that this summit actually was a point in the international relations and in the global situation that we shall remember as a turning point which will mark the strengthening, final strengthening of the rest at the expense of the West, or it may not. It may be completely different and the world may collapse into a host of different groupings, conflicts and fighting interests both on the battlefield and in the trade relations, the economy, etc.
It may be that the West will participate in such groupings in different configurations. It will also depend on what is going on with the West. So we are indeed on the cusp of a very difficult era. And it remains to be seen how it is going to turn out.
Chris Steyn (13:06.565)
Let's just go back to the battlefield. North Korean troops, hundreds of them have been filmed training in Russia. Western allies believe that it is for deployment in the war against Ukraine. And is that how Putin is going to try and retake Kursk?
Irina Filatova (13:24.364)
Well, I don't have inside information about it apart from the fact that it is not only the United States and its Western allies who believe that these troops are being trained for the participation in the Ukrainian war, but it is also the South Koreans. It is also all of the Russian opposition specialists who watch these things very closely and have some internal information. Yes, they do say that there will be about 12,000 of these troops ultimately which will take participation in the Ukrainian war, possibly in the Kursk region. Kursk itself has never been occupied by the Ukrainians, so it is only the Kursk region. Whether they would be fighting there, whether they would be fighting on the territory of Ukraine, that we do not know yet. But there is a kind of a consensus between the West, the South Koreans, and the Russian internal opposition sources, which agree that these troops are indeed going to be used in the war in Ukraine.
Chris Steyn (14:49.762)
But what is the bigger implication of North Korea entering that war?
Irina Filatova (14:56.206)
There are a lot of implications. First of all, it will have a much bigger and better relations with greater relations with Russia. It gives it a leverage in the relations with Russia. It gives it the opportunity to claim and maybe get the latest Russian technology, which it was asking for for quite a long time.
So this gives it a better chance to get it and then of course this will affect the whole situation in this region.
But we should remember that this would not be very… This is not what China wants. China would not be very happy by the too close relations between Russia and North Korea and it won't be happy if North Korea gets this latest technology. I don't think that China will be particularly happy about it.
Chris Steyn (16:05.928)
Do you think foreign deployment could turn that war around or would it take more than that?
Irina Filatova (16:15.406)
Look, the Ukrainian troops are exhausted. They have been fighting with their hands tied behind their backs in terms of what arms they can use and how they can use them. And of course they don't have enough of these arms to fight with the Russian army and Russian war machine at home. Russia has more money more men willing to die or maybe not so much for the Motherland. Some of them do want to die for the Motherland but many just go to get more money because they are very well paid for volunteering these days so they are exhausted and it may be that the arrival of the new fresh, freshly-trained and well-trained troops will turn the war around completely.
It may be that the West will react by allowing Ukrainians to use their arms more effectively. It may even be that it will get some volunteers from the West. I do not know. So far it has not happened, or at least it has not happened on the scale that it's sufficient to have any influence of the war at all. We do not know.
Zelensky himself is speaking about the Peace Plan or Cictory Plan, so he may be quite ready to negotiate about something.
But if Ukraine doesn't get its security, that is a very, very, very bad idea to negotiate peace, because that would mean an eternal conflict, which would drag and drag and drag on in the middle of Europe.
Chris Steyn (18:24.091)
Thank you. That was Russian historian, Professor Irina Filatova speaking to BizNews and I am Chris Steyn. Thank you, Professor.
Irina Filatova (18:33.912)
Thank you.
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