Putin touts multipolar world order at flagship BRICS summit

KAZAN, Russia: World leaders called for peace in the Middle East and Ukraine at the BRICS summit in Russia on Wednesday, as President Vladimir Putin told them he welcomed offers to mediate in the Ukraine conflict.

In a joint statement, the group said it was “deeply concerned about ongoing conflicts and instability in the Middle East and North African region.”

It also criticised Israeli attacks on UN staff in southern Lebanon and urged that Lebanon’s “territorial integrity” be “preserved.” At a plenary session earlier on Wednesday, leaders had lined up to call for peace in both the Middle East and Ukraine.

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian urged BRICS members to “use all their collective and individual capacities to end the war in Gaza and Lebanon”. Chinese President Xi Jinping Xi repeated his call for a ceasefire. And Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also called for escalation in both the Middle East and Ukraine to be avoided.

Xi, a key Putin ally, told the summit there must be “no escalation of fighting” in Ukraine. “We must adhere to the three principles of ‘no spillover from the battlefield, no escalation of fighting and no adding oil to the fire by relevant parties’, so as to ease the situation as soon as possible,” Xi said. Without referring to any specific conflict, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi also issued a call for peace.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, also casting himself as a possible peacemaker, will hold talks with Putin later on Wednesday, while UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres will meet the Kremlin leader a day later.

In opening remarks to the summit, Putin said the process of “forming a multipolar world order is underway, a dynamic and irreversible process.”