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In his statements during the 16th BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke about various issues ranging from Russia's role as a moderator in the Middle East to the country's relationship with North Korea and Donald Trump, amongst other issues.
Speaking about the payment mechanism between the BRICS member countries, Putin said, "BRICS does not aim to create a separate payment system. The BRICS countries realise that the payments problem is one of the main obstacles to cooperation within the bloc, but member states will use existing systems to circumvent it." Earlier during the Summit, President Putin had proposed to create a new investment platform for BRICS countries, amongst other measures announced during the Summit. Commenting upon the United States, he said that investigations have shown that Donald Trump has had no ties with Russia and he noted, "If the United States is open to normal relations with Russia, we will do the same." While Putin welcomed the statements from President Trump to end the conflict in Ukraine, he denied the allegations of Russia 'planning to sow chaos in Europe; and called it "complete rubbish." Speaking about Russia's relationship with North Korea, he said, "It is our business how we implement the North Korea partnership." The Kazan Declaration had seen the member countries show grave concern at the deterioration of the situation and humanitarian crisis in the Middle East and had called for "urgent measures in accordance with international law to ensure the protection of lives" in the affected areas. President Putin, in his speech, reiterated the sentiment and said, "We are concerned by the events in the Middle East and do not want the conflict to worsen". He said that Russia has "a role in the settlement of conflict in the Middle East". BRICS, as a formal grouping, started after the meeting of the Leaders of Russia, India and China in St. Petersburg on the margins of the G8 Outreach Summit in 2006. The grouping was formalised during the first meeting of BRIC Foreign Ministers on the margins of UNGA in New York in 2006. The first BRIC Summit was held in Russia's Yekaterinburg in 2009. It was agreed to expand BRIC into BRICS with the inclusion of South Africa at the BRIC Foreign Ministers' meeting in New York in 2010. South Africa attended the 3rd BRICS Summit in Sanya in 2011. A further expansion of BRICS took place in 2024 with five new members - Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. (ANI)
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