Lavrov Counters, No, the BRICS Is Not ‘Losing Momentum

July 11—During his July 7 press conference in Rio de Janeiro, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov responded to a reporter’s observation that Western media began to claim, even before the July 6-7 BRICS summit, that the group was “losing momentum,” that its ability to form a united front was “diluted,” and that was why Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping didn’t attend.

On the contrary, Lavrov countered, those Western media are “projecting their own concerns.” NATO has expanded, but it has benefitted no one, including the Alliance’s own members. Divisions within NATO are deepening, “with murmurs of dissent growing louder.” More countries are looking to act in their own interests “rather than under ideological imperatives imposed by a master.”

BRICS, on the other hand, has never faced such risks; the cohesion of the group isn’t threatened. “Our organization has always been founded on principles of equality, mutual respect, and consensus—a consensus that reflects a true balance of interests, rather than one dictated by an ‘big brother.’ Therefore, I cannot agree with efforts to artificially present BRICS as an organization whose purpose is being exhausted. On the contrary, its potential is only beginning to be realized,” said Lavrov.

He also addressed the claim by Donald Trump and others that BRICS is creating its own currency with the presumption that that is threatening the dollar. “[T]he creation of our own currency within BRICS has never been considered with regard to payments,” said Lavrov. Brazilian President Lula did make a proposal on this at the BRICS 2023 summit in Johannesburg, “But it was ultimately decided to instruct the central banks and finance ministries to draft proposals on platforms for making settlements through a system of mutual payments that won’t depend on the dollar.” The reality today, however, is that the dollar is plummeting, and Donald Trump’s threats of imposing tariffs on BRICS members "is yet another proof of the end of the globalization model….

“We didn’t discuss our own currency at BRICS. As I have said, we discussed increasing the role of national currencies. This process is already underway in practice. Second, we talked about a new investment platform and a cross-border payments initiative. Taken together, they offer a set of opportunities to avoid dependence on the dollar and also the euro.”