BRICS founding members Russia and China are reportedly looking to build deeper economic relations.
At the 16th BRICS summit, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping engaged in talks to bolster trade partnerships in an effort to create a “fair world order,” reports the South China Morning Post.
According to Putin, the alliance between the two economic powerhouses could serve as a grounding influence amid volatile conditions on the world stage.
“Russian-Chinese cooperation in global affairs is one of the main stabilizing factors on the world stage. We intend to further increase coordination at all multilateral platforms in order to ensure global security and a fair world order… We are successfully implementing joint projects in energy, industry, high technology, transport, agriculture and many other areas.”
The news comes as Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen says the US is poised to announce a new wave of sanctions against entities supporting Russia’s military efforts.
Yellen says her office is also “working tirelessly” to use frozen Russian assets to aid Ukraine.
“We continue cracking down on Russian sanctions evasion, and as soon as next week we will unveil strong new sanctions targeting those facilitating the Kremlin’s war machine, including intermediaries in [third-world] countries that are supplying Russia with critical inputs for its military. We have also been working tirelessly to unlock the economic value of the Russian sovereign assets immobilized in our jurisdictions to support Ukraine.”
BRICS, originally made up of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is an economic bloc designed to offer an alternative to the US-led world order. This year, the intergovernmental organization formally added Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates after the West weaponized the dollar and imposed sanctions against Russia for invading Ukraine.
In 2022, G7 nations froze $300 billion worth of Russian sovereign assets in response to the country’s invasion of Ukraine. The league of countries is now reportedly planning to leverage the funds to back a $50 billion loan to Ukraine.
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