BRICS Summit 2023: While addressing the opening plenary session of the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa's Johannesburg, Russian President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday defended his actions in Ukraine and claimed that it only seeks to stop the ongoing war that was "unleashed" by Western countries.
"Some countries promote their hegemony, exceptionality and their policy of the ongoing colonialism and neo-colonialism. I want to note that the aspiration to preserve their hegemony in the world led to a dire crisis in Ukraine," said Putin via video conference at the group summit, taking a jibe at Western countries, particularly the United States.
Referring to the unrest in Donbas in 2014, Putin blamed the Western countries for helping an "unconstitutional coup". "After that, those who did not agree with the coup faced a war. A war was launched against them, a war of attrition and it lasted for eight years," he said.
The Russian President further said, "Russia decided to help people that fight for their culture, their traditions for their language and their future. Our actions in Ukraine are guided by only one thing, to put an end to a war that was unleashed by the West against people in Donbas."
The Kremlin leader during the session called for de-dollarisation while maintaining that BRICS countries must expand settlements in national currencies and enhance cooperation between banks.
Meanwhile, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa affirmed that BRICS countries will continue to be supportive of bringing the Russia-Ukraine conflict to an end through dialogue, mediation and negotiation. "We are deeply concerned about conflicts across the world that continue to cause great suffering and hardship," Ramaphosa said.
Earlier during the BRICS Business Forum, Putin came down heavily on the West for penalising Moscow for its "special military operations" in Ukraine and dubbed the action as "illegitimate". He also hreatened to cut off Ukraine’s grain exports permanently.
Sitting at a desk with a white notebook in front of him and a Russian flag behind, Putin said a wartime deal to facilitate Ukrainian grain shipments that is critical for the world’s food supply would not resume until his conditions - the easing of restrictions on Russian food and agricultural products - are met.
The West’s attempts to punish and isolate Russia financially for sending troops into Ukraine are an “illegitimate sanctions practice and illegal freezing of assets of sovereign states, which essentially amounts to them trampling upon all the basic norms and rules of free trade,” the Russian leader asserted.
(with agency inputs)
