Russia has commended India’s leadership of BRICS, saying cooperation within the bloc continues to strengthen ahead of the Delhi summit scheduled for September 12-13. Moscow is making every effort to advance BRICS cooperation and that 90 percent of Russia’s payments with BRICS member nations are now settled in national currencies rather than the US dollar.
That the shift is not aimed at de-dollarisation as a deliberate strategy, but rather at expanding available payment mechanisms among member states. That some countries are using their national currencies as a tool of foreign policy, pointing to a broader trend reshaping global trade settlements.
Expanding Cooperation Across BRICS
BRICS nations are deepening cooperation across three major areas: humanitarian collaboration, economic partnership, and security coordination. Russia, he said, remains committed to expanding BRICS membership further as the bloc grows in global influence.
On the security front, member states are developing joint mechanisms to combat drug trafficking and counter-terrorism, alongside growing collaboration in space-related initiatives. These efforts, Peskov indicated, reflect BRICS’s evolution beyond an economic grouping into a multi-dimensional platform for coordinated action among member nations.
India Called a Strategic Partner
India as a strategic partner of Russia, noting that the two nations continue to strengthen ties across multiple sectors. He reiterated that a majority of payments between Russia and India are also conducted in national currencies, reinforcing the broader BRICS trend away from dollar-dominated trade settlements.
Addressing the war in Ukraine, Peskov said Russia is working toward ending the conflict and favours a peaceful resolution. Referring to events from 2014, he accused the United States, the United Kingdom, and other European nations of orchestrating a coup to remove Russia from the equation. He welcomed India’s peace efforts as well as US President Donald Trump’s attempts to help end the war, while alleging that certain European countries are pushing Ukraine toward a strategic defeat of Russia — an outcome he said Moscow would not allow.
The BRICS summit in Delhi, bringing together leaders from member nations, is expected to focus heavily on strengthening trade mechanisms, security cooperation, and the continued push toward settlements in national currencies.