Russia will support Algeria's intention to join BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa), Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko, who is leading the council delegation on an official visit to the country, said on Thursday.
"As you know, Algeria has expressed a desire to join the BRICS format. Russia will certainly support this intention and will do its best to facilitate this," Matviyenko said after meeting with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. According to her, Tebboune pointed out during the meeting that Russia was and remained "a great friend of Algeria."
Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said that she relayed the message from Russian President Vladimir Putin to the President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune, which includes an invitation to Russia, among other things.
The Federation Council delegation, led by Matviyenko, is currently in Algeria with an official visit.
"I relayed the message from the Russian President to the President of Algeria; it is rather substantive - in the message, the Russian President invited the President of Algeria to make an official visit to Russia, and invited him to take part in the second Russia-Africa Summit," Matviyenko told reporters after meeting with Tebboune.
African nation wants to join BRICS
The Zimbabwean government would like to become a member of the BRICS economic bloc, the speaker of the ruling party ZANU-PF said on Wednesday.
“We made it clear that we would like to become a member of the BRICS,” Christopher Mutsvangwa told Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency.
The official added that his country is interested in developing alternatives to the Western-dominated SWIFT payment network. In his view, BRICS could contribute to that.
Mutsvangwa described BRICS as a new force in international relations, and said he hopes its growth and expansion will continue.
The five BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – account for more than 40% of the world’s population and nearly a quarter of global GDP.
They include Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sudan, Syria, Türkiye, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela and Zimbabwe
BRICS member states currently work on criteria for admission of new members — senator
The BRICS association is currently working on development of criteria for admission of new members, and decision on new members will be made by all five countries, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko told reporters Thursday.
"BRICS member states [Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa], the five, agreed that they will develop common clear mechanisms of admission of other states to this structure. This also indicates the seriousness of the organization: not to [admit] everyone at once under unclear principles. Such work on development of criteria for expansion of BRICS is underway. It will be decided by the five BRICS member states," Matviyenko said.
The Speaker called Algeria’s membership application a reputable one.
"Among the countries that would also like to join, I would call it [Algeria’s application - TASS] a rather strong and leading one," Matviyenko noted, adding that Algeria has all chances to become one of the first states to join the association’s work.
Earlier on Thursday, Matviyenko said after her meeting with the President of Algeria Abdelmadjid Tebboune that Russia will support Algeria’s intent to join BRICS/.
BRICS can only start currency reform — Russian Executive Director in IMF
BRICS member-countries are the only ones capable to initiate the required process of reforming the international monetary system, Russian Executive Director of IMF Aleksey Mozhin told TASS in an interview.
The world existing before the start of the special military operation in Ukraine will not return anymore, Mozhin said. "It is difficult to say now what new world will be. We are at the initial phase of its buildup," the Director said. One of the critical issues is "to reform the international monetary system based on the dollar hegemony," Mozhin noted. "It cannot continue anymore, especially after Americans started openly using the dollar as a weapon," he stressed.
"The US as the main stockholder of the Fund has absolutely no desire to discuss reforming of the current international monetary system, its downsides, and prevent such attempts," Mozhin said. "Who can lead this long mature and absolute needed process of reforming this international monetary system? It seems to me that nobody, except BRICS countries, can merely assume this paramount task. Important, proper steps in this direction are being made already; the transition to trading in national currencies is taking place," he added.
Envoy explains to Argentine authorities Moscow’s reason to suspend New START Treaty
Russian Ambassador to Argentina Dmitry Feoktistov on Thursday explained to the Argentine authorities the reasons for the suspension of Moscow's participation in the New START Treaty to address concerns expressed by Buenos Aires.
"We paid attention to the reaction of the Argentine authorities expressing concern. The official communique of the Foreign Ministry mentions the fear of escalation of the situation in Ukraine to a conflict with a nuclear dimension. In this regard, I would like to draw the attention of the leadership and the public of Argentina to the real causes of the degradation of the international arms control system," says a statement publicized by the embassy.
Feoktistov noted that for many years Washington has "consistently neglected the relationship between strategic offensive and defensive arms recorded in the START Treaty". "The Russian position is that the treaty can only be viable if the United States stops building up its missile defense. Nevertheless, Washington pointedly continues the massive deployment of a multi-echelon missile defense system," the diplomat added.
"No matter what, Russia will continue to pursue a responsible approach in the nuclear sphere. We will continue within the life cycle of the treaty to comply with the quantitative limits on strategic nuclear weapons," the ambassador stressed.
On February 21, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that Moscow was suspending its participation in New START, but not withdrawing from it altogether.
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