The Western countries “hide behind” the noble slogans of democracy and human rights while seeking to resolve the challenges they face at the expense of others and “continuing to siphon off” resources from the developing countries, Consul General of the Russian Federation of Southern India in Chennai Oleg N. Avdeev contended in Chennai on Thursday.
Delivering a special address at a panel discussion on ‘BRICS Summit 2023: Outcomes and Future Prospects’, Mr. Avdeev said the Western states have gone to great lengths to preserve the unipolar world as it used to be. “It suits them, and they are the ones who benefit from it. They are trying to substitute international law with their own rules-based order, as they call it, but no one has seen these rules.”
The emerging new world order was also “threatened by the radical neoliberalism certain countries are trying to impose, aiming to destroy traditional values that are important to all of us: the family and respect for national and religious traditions,” he contended. While in G-7, “everybody looks up to the United States” but in BRICS, every participant was equal to others, Mr. Avdeev said.
N. Ram, Director, The Hindu Publishing Group, said the expansion of BRICS has come at the right time. Referring to an article in The Wire, he said BRICS clearly articulated the concerns of the global south in the multilateral trading system. The Johannesburg II Declaration came out very clearly against unilateral coercive measures.
“The business of sanctions unilaterally imposed, basically by the United States, pushing it through.., whatever we think about the war in Ukraine is absolutely no justification for trying to ostracise and demonise Russian Federation. In fact, Russia is India’s most important strategic partner,” Mr. Ram said.
India’s stand
One must appreciate the stand of the Indian government, he contended, “Whoever is in power, I think, the same position would have been taken in continuing the strong relationship with Russia, refusing to accept this attempt to demonise or ostracise Russia or treating them as a persona non grata in the international fora.”
Founder-chairman of The Peninsula Foundation Air Marshal M. Matheswaran, who moderated the discussion, contended that the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank were always controlled by the Europeans or the United States.
“The trading patterns, the rules and regulations, human rights, ethics, standards are laid down by the West. So, unless you create your own standards, unless you are able to break the economic strangling hold, there is no hope for two-thirds of the world. You may have got independence from colonialism, but you are still part of the neo-colonial process,” Mr. Matheswaran argued.
Recalling from his recent visit to Russia, P. Thangappan, secretary-general of the Indo-Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (IRCCI), underlined the economic relations between India and Russia. Associate Professor Alagu Perumal Ramasamy from Loyola Institute of Business Administration (LIBA) underlined the hope that the BRICS summit could be the credible voice for de-dollarisation. The event was organised jointly by Russian House, The Peninsula Foundation and the IRCCI.
