The threat of North Korea’s entry into the Ukrainian war loomed over the BRICS summit. Russian President Vladimir Putin hinted this Thursday that allegations that Pyongyang has sent troops to his country are true. At the conclusion of the forum held in the Russian city of Kazan, on the banks of the Volga, the leader commented that the satellite images that South Korea has presented as evidence are a reliable indication: “The photographs are very serious. If there are photographs, it means they reflect something.”
The president made these statements before meeting with the Secretary General of the UN, António Guterres. The highest representative of the United Nations appealed to the international leaders present at the summit to make an effort for peace, although no firm proposal came from the BRICS club. Putin joked with laughter with his statements: “He said that we should all live as one big family. This is how we live, but, unfortunately, there are often disagreements, scandals, and even fights.”
The United States had confirmed 24 hours earlier the warnings from Ukraine and South Korea about the entry of Kim Jong-un’s regime into the conflict. The Russian leader has used the excuse that Ukraine has received intelligence, training and weapons support from the West to defend itself against the Russian invasion, although no NATO military has fought on the front. “Our strategic partnership treaty [con Corea del Norte] has just been ratified and contains article 4 [para la defensa mutua entre Moscú y Pyongyang]. We have never doubted that North Korean leaders took our agreements seriously. What and how we will do it is our business,” Putin has warned.
Putin has reduced his invasion of Ukraine to a question of prestige. After justifying his offensive for years with the supposed protection of the Russian-speaking population of Donbas and other pretexts, and criticizing Western colonial history, the president declared after finishing the summit that the underlying issue is that Moscow desires more power on the international scene. . “Before the special military operation, we tried to improve relations with the West, but Russia was being relegated to the category of States whose function is to be an appendage of raw materials at the cost of the loss of its sovereignty,” the president said after criticize that the countries around it decided to join NATO: “The solution for Russia has been to increase our security, this guarantees our independence as a State.”
Guterres calls for an effort for Ukraine and the Middle East
Guterres had appealed to the international community to end the wars ravaging Eastern Europe and the Middle East following “the principles of the rule of law, territorial integrity and the political independence of all States.”
“We need peace in Ukraine. A just peace in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, with the resolutions of its General Assembly and with international law,” the top leader of the United Nations stated before his host, the Russian president, and continued: “We need peace in Gaza with an immediate ceasefire, the unconditional release of all hostages and the effective delivery of humanitarian aid […] “We need peace in Lebanon with an immediate cessation of hostilities and the full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”
The BRICS summit in Kazan has shown the differences that exist even between Russia’s partners regarding Ukraine. Point 36 of their joint statement stressed that there is no unanimity: “We have recalled the national positions on the situation in Ukraine and its surroundings, outlined in the relevant forums, including the Security Council and the UN General Assembly (… ) We note with satisfaction the mediation proposals and the good intentions to guarantee a peaceful solution to the conflict.”
Putin has also demanded the expansion of the power bodies of the United Nations. “For the UN to function more effectively, it is important that it adapt its structure to the realities of the 21st century and increase representation on the Security Council and other key bodies with countries from Asia, Africa and Latin America, including those whose leaders They are in this room.”
The Russian autocrat has given advice that is not applied, as is the case with his invasion of the sovereign state of Ukraine under the pretext of the 2014 protests. “Interference in internal affairs under the slogan of concern for democracy, human rights human rights and the fight against climate change”, has denounced the same Putin who justified his invasion in February 2022 with the fact that he was supposedly going to “protect” the pro-Russian population of Ukraine.
The Russian president has also accused the West of resorting to “illegal unilateral sanctions, absolute protectionism, and manipulation of monetary and stock markets” just a few days after his country vetoed the import of vegetables from Kazakhstan after this nation had declined. be part of the BRICS.
One of the Kremlin’s main objectives with the Kazan summit has been to convince its population and its rivals that it is not isolated. The Russian independent newspaper Medusahad access to a manual disseminated by the presidential administration among the media loyal to the Government in which it indicated that they should emphasize that Putin “leads global processes” and that the “attempts to isolate Russia after the start of the war have failed.” .