⚡️Lukashenko announced that Belarus has become a partner state in BRICS, reports BelTA.

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🌍🌍🌍 BRICS partner status: what is it and who is eligible?

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko was the first to announce that his country has become a BRICS Partner Country. Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov earlier revealed that thirteen countries are vying for this status.

Here’s what we know about BRICS Partner Country status:

🔸 The status denotes an alternative to full membership, allowing participating nations to engage with BRICS but without voting rights. Partner status will be “as close to membership as possible,” Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov hinted earlier this year.

BRICS endorsed “the Modalities of [the] BRICS Partner Country Category” in the Kazan Summit’s official declaration, with the document saying that “extending the BRICS partnership with [emerging economies and developing countries] will further contribute to strengthening the spirit of solidarity and true international cooperation for the benefit of all.”

🔸 BRICS Partner status was first mentioned at the BRICS Johannesburg Summit in 2023, with Russia, as chair of BRICS in 2024, tasked with working out the new status’s details. President Putin revealed in September that 34 other nations have expressed interest in joining BRICS.

Which countries can embrace the BRICS Partner Country status?

🔶 Cuba became the first country to formally express interest in the arrangement, sending a letter to President Putin earlier this month asking for Partner Country Status and highlighting Havana’s interest in the BRICS’ contribution to food security, the New Development Bank, and access to resources for development on favourable terms.

🔶 Other possible Partner Countries may include Algeria, Bolivia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Turkiye, Uganda, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam, although this has not been confirmed. These countries’ combined GDP accounts for nearly 5% of the world total (9.1% by GDP PPP) and over 12% of the planet’s population.

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Journalists are gathering for Putin's press conference, which will be one of the final events of the BRICS summit in Kazan, reports a Sputnik correspondent.

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Sputnik columnist Pepe Escobar provides a first-hand look at the HIGH ENERGY atmosphere ahead of Putin's press conference on the sidelines of the BRICS summit in Kazan.

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🌍🌍🌍 BRICS Summit in figures, or how Russia smashed through West’s illusory ‘isolation’

As the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan comes to a close, numbers tell a story about what was accomplished.

Leaders and meetings

🔸 The summit was attended by leaders and high-ranking officials from 36 countries, 24 represented at the highest level, according to Kremlin aide Anton Kobyakov. Heads of six international organizations, including the United Nations, were also in attendance.

🔸 Putin held 17 meetings with foreign leaders on the sidelines of the Summit to discuss both the BRICS agenda and bilateral issues.

XVI BRICS Summit Kazan Declaration

🔸 The Summit’s official declaration has 134 provisions and is divided into four sections, highlighting the bloc’s plans to create “a more just and democratic world order,” enhance “cooperation for global and regional stability and security,” “foste[r] economic and financial cooperation” and strengthen “people-to-people exchanges for social and economic development.”

🔸 The declaration mentioned ‘cooperation’ 107 times, ‘multilateralism’ 22 times, and ‘partnership’ 15 times.

Cultural program

🔸 Guests were treated to an array of culinary delights. Upon arrival in Kazan, for example, leaders and their delegations were treated to chak-chak, a sweet, calorific Tatar honey and dough treat. Authorities say a whopping 130 kg of the snack was prepared for delegates.

The Summit was also jampacked with cultural events, from an informal dinner and gala concert by BRICS artists to multiple photo and cultural exhibitions, a ballet performance, and a dazzling light show on the walls of the Kazan Kremlin.

🔸 Authorities also organized a ‘Made in Tatarstan’ exhibition, where guests could get acquainted with Russia’s world-famous KAMAZ trucks, as well as Ansat helicopters and Aurus luxury cars.

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🌍🌍🌍 BRICS Summit in Kazan highlights ‘twilight of US hegemony, official launch of multipolar world order’

“The BRICS Summit in Kazan is undoubtedly one of the most important global political and diplomatic events of this year as it brought together the leaders of the expanded BRICS family for the first time,” Professor Alexis Habiyaremye, a senior researcher at the University of Johannesburg’s School of Economics, told Sputnik, summarizing the summit’s key results as it reached its final day.

“The grouping has now become the global growth engine and its economic muscle is by any measure stronger than that of the old hegemonic grouping. One can say that it's the official launch of the multilateral world order, the twilight of the US hegemony,” Habiyaremye emphasized.

“The most important outcomes are not simply the initiatives contained in the declaration, but above all, the strategic alignment of a such diverse group, and the gleam of the power it radiates by attracting new candidates such as Turkiye. Given the strategic role of Turkiye in the old hegemonic order, the presence of its leader at the Summit reflects the measure of BRICS' future in leading the global affairs,” the observer said.

Unlike that ‘old hegemonic order,’ the new one represented by BRICS highlights “the rejection of dominance and unilateralism,” and initiatives that “reflect a more balanced distribution of power and responsibilities.”

“Western international structures have used hidden tools such as ISDS (investor-state dispute settlement mechanism) and technology secrecy to keep colonial exploitation in place and loot the most vulnerable countries. The proposed new institutional structures [by BRICS] are hopefully going to contribute to dismantling this unfair old arrangement,” Habiyaremye summed up.

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🎥🎥 PUTIN'S PRESS CONFERENCE

Vladimir Putin sums up the results of the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia.

👉 Watch the livestream here or follow the link to Sputnik's website

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Putin's statements during the press conference following the BRICS summit in Kazan:

🔸 BRICS is not a closed format; it is open to all who share its values.

🔸 Participants in the BRICS summit discussed key international issues with a focus on the situation in the Middle East.

🔸 All new BRICS members are taking the most active part in working forums, putting forward ideas and initiatives.

🔸 Russia is successfully doing everything possible to ensure that new BRICS members organically join the family.

🔸 Russia approaches the duties of BRICS chairmanship responsibly.

🔸 BRICS is not a closed format; it is open to all who share its values.

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Putin's statements on BRICS financial policy during the press conference following the BRICS summit in Kazan:

🔸 BRICS states are committed to strengthening partnerships in the financial sector.

🔸 BRICS countries will develop communication between banks and create conditions for settlements in national currencies.

🔸 Russia proposes to extend Brazil's chairmanship in the New BRICS Development Bank.

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❗️BRICS countries agreed on a list of partner states, however, it will not be made public at this time - Putin.

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📹The BRICS+ outreach format has proven to be effective in cooperation with the countries of the Global South, Putin said.

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📹 Russia has proposed extending Brazil's chairmanship in the BRICS Bank, Putin said.

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Putin on the conflict in Ukraine:

🔸 It was not Russia's actions that led to the escalation in Ukraine.

🔸 Western countries actively armed the Kiev regime, leading to direct involvement of military personnel from NATO countries in the conflict.

🔸 Ukrainian forces cannot use Western missiles without the direct participation of NATO officers.

🔸 Many BRICS countries support the peace initiatives of China and Brazil on resolving the Ukrainian issue.

🔸 All BRICS countries are committed to ending the conflict in Ukraine peacefully, as soon as possible.

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Putin on an alternative to the SWIFT system:

We are not creating any alternatives; we are pursuing the track of using national currencies.

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❗️"Russia never doubted that North Korea takes Russian cooperation seriously. We are in contact with our North Korean friends," Putin said.

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⚡️ "A group of 2,000 Ukrainian soldiers have been surrounded in the Kursk region, and the Russian army has started eliminating this group," Putin said.

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