Putin Foresees End of Dollar Hegemony With Emergence of Multipolar World
In his keynote speech at the 15th BRICS Summit (#BRICS2023), Russian President Vladimir Putin emphatically painted a picture of the end of the dollar hegemony, and strongly pushed for #dedollarization in order to mitigate geopolitical risks.
Due to a warrant issued for his arrest, President Putin had to skip the Summit in person and participated via videoconference. The Russian Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergey Lavrov stood in to represent Russia.
Since the start of the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the world has been split into two camps. The Western world, led by the US and NATO, is backing Ukraine, while the Eastern world and Africa tend to support Russia. In particular, China is the largest superpower behind Russia, and Putin and Xi have met several times in person to discuss Ukraine since the conflict erupted.
On the other hand, India has taken a more nuanced approach, preferring to abstain from the UN Assembly vote condemning Russia. India is also buying quite a bit of oil from Russia. Traditionally, Russia has been one of the largest military suppliers to India, China, and many African countries.
Both China and India are resorting to their respective local currencies to settle cross-border trade with Russia. Due to financial restrictions imposed upon Russia, #SWIFT is no longer available to Russia for cross-border transfers. However, Russia already has its own international payment system called #SPFS, which was launched back in 2017.
Unsurprisingly, Russia has become the strongest proponent of #dedollarization since the world trading currency has been weaponized against its interests. Russia even went so far as to propose the creation of a #BRICS currency backed by gold as a substitute for the mighty American dollar.
However, the conflict has disrupted the global supply of wheat since Ukraine and Russia are both major producers and exporters of the commodity. As a gesture of good faith, Putin announced the donation of grain to the most affected African countries and vouched that Russia has the capacity to make up for the shortfall in grain supply.
A few months before the Summit, a high-level delegation of African countries led by the AU Chair Azali Assoumani actually visited Russia to call for an end to the war as many African countries are experiencing #FoodSecurity risk as a result.
Through the BRICS Summit, Russia would like to show that it is not so isolated and continues to enjoy a certain level of support from the #GlobalSouth. He recalled in the colonial past of the #GlobalNorth and exhorted the Emerging Markets and Developing countries (#EMDC) to pick their friends wisely.