Russia
Source: tass.com

According to Russia's Senior Official in the Arctic Council, Moscow believes that it's important to boost "cooperation with other countries in high latitudes as mechanisms for multilateral Arctic cooperation, including the Arctic Council, are expected to weaken"

MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Many countries, including members of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), are interested in cooperating with Moscow in the Arctic, Nikolay Korchunov, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-At-Large and Russia's Senior Official in the Arctic Council, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"We can see many countries, including BRICS member states, expressing interest in cooperating with Russia in the Arctic," he pointed out.

According to the diplomat, Moscow believes that it's important to boost "cooperation with other countries in high latitudes as mechanisms for multilateral Arctic cooperation, including the Arctic Council, are expected to weaken."

The press conference was dedicated to the conference on climate change and permafrost thaw that is scheduled to take place in Russia's Yakutsk on March 22-24 as part of the country's Arctic Council Chairmanship in 2021-2023.

South Africa
Source: www.iol.co.za

South Africa says it remained in touch with all the key stakeholders in the Ukraine-Russia conflict after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant of arrest for President Vladimir Putin ahead of the Brics summit in the country in August.

President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said while they noted the warrant issued by the ICC the country maintained that the conflict in Ukraine can be resolved through peaceful means.

This is the position that has been taken by South Africa since the conflict began in February last year.

Magwenya said between now and the summit it would be in touch with all key stakeholders.

"With respect to the ICC we note the report on the warrant of arrest that the ICC has issued against President Putin. It remains South Africa's commitment and a very strong desire that the conflict in the Ukraine is resolved peacefully through negotiations. We as a government are cognisant of our legal obligation. However, between now and the summit we will remain engaged with relevant stakeholders with respect to the summit and other issues related," said Magwenya.

South Africa was caught up in a similar situation in 2015 when it did not arrest former president of Sudan Omar al-Bashir when he was attending the African Union summit in Johannesburg.

Political parties went to court to challenge the government for not arresting Al-Bashir, who was later toppled in his country.

Putin is expected to attend the Brics summit with President Xi Jinping of China, Lula da Silva of Brazil and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Xi is also set to meet Putin this week in his first visit to Moscow since invasion of Ukraine.

Russia
Source: tass.com

MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. The Group of Seven (G7) format is not a reflection of the global economy as a whole, which is why Moscow focuses on the G20 and BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Monday.

Asked to comment on Western analysts' report saying that the share of BRICS nations in the global GDP has surpassed that of G7 countries, he said: "Irrespective of the findings by these experts, it is safe to say that the economic clout of BRICS countries in the global economy is constantly growing. The global economy is far from being limited to G7 nations, which is why Russia believes that the format obviously fails to reflect the economic wants and needs of our planet. The broader grouping, the G20, far more closely reflects the real state of affairs, which is what we are concerned with."

The G7 is an integration of developed countries, which consists of the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, the US, France, and Japan. It is mainly focused on searching for solutions to global political and social problems. The organization existed in a seven-member format from 1976-1997. After Russia joined the organization it was called the G8. In March 2014, as a result of the events in Ukraine and the ensuing crisis in relations between Moscow and the West, the organization decided to return to the G7 format.

Russia
Source: tass.com

This indicates the seriousness of the organization: not to admit everyone at once under unclear principles, Russian Federation Council Speaker Valentina Matviyenko said

ALGIERS, March 16. /TASS/. 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/.

Russia
Source: tass.com

"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," Aleksey Mozhin said

WASHINGTON, March 16. /TASS/. 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.