Russia believes that India and China are way ahead of the US and member-states of the European Union (EU), as far as economic development and the global political leadership are concerned.

Speaking at an event in Massawa (a port city of Eritrea in eastern Africa) in the last week of January 2023, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Viktorovich Lavrov said that the two neighbouring Asian nations enjoyed more financial and political influence than Washington DC and Brussels. He took a sharp dig at the US, stressing that the Kremlin wanted to establish a multi-polar world, in spite of the West’s desperate attempt to reverse this process.

Lavrov stated: “The establishment of a multi-polar world is an objective and unstoppable process. The collective West – the US, NATO and the EU, which are fully controlled by Washington DC – are trying to reverse this process. But these efforts are futile. The closest thing they can count on is a slight slowdown of the objective course of history.” The Russian Minister further said: “No visits to deliver mentor advice nor the hybrid wars of the West (including in Ukraine) can stop the development of new centres of economic power, financial and political influence. Countries, like China and India, are already ahead of the US and EU members in many respects.“

Lavrov did not forget to mention that Turkey, Egypt, countries of the Persian Gulf, and some Latin American countries, including Brazil, would be the future centres of multi-polarity, insisting that these countries were emerging as influential and self-sufficient centres in the contemporary world.

Meanwhile, Lavrov confirmed that Durban would host the 15th BRICS Summit in August 2023. He described BRICS (the acronym for five leading emerging economies: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) as the manifestation of global multi-polarity. According to the Russian minister, strengthening regional identity in the developing regions of the world does not mean that multi-polarity is not happening in a global dimension. “This organisation unites five countries, with more than 12 others showing an interest in joining it. Developing links between BRICS and other countries will be a central topic at the upcoming summit of the five that is to take place in August in South Africa. The clock of multi-polar history is ticking in the right direction,” explained Lavrov.

It may be noted that the BRICS leaders have convened 14 formal meetings and nine informal meetings since 2009. The BRIC leadership held its first meeting in Russia in June 2009, and upgraded mutual cooperation to the Summit level.

Durban hosted the Fifth Annual BRICS Summit in 2013, and the event was attended by the Heads of Governments of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das