Sputnik interviewed Scott Ritter on June 8 on his views about President Vladimir Putin. President Putin “continues to hold the door open for a resolution” of conflicts between NATO and Russia, said Ritter, but the country will embrace a new multipolar world led by institutions like the BRICS economic bloc. Putin’s speech to the SPIEF plenary on June 7 “stressed the country’s preparations for the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan this fall. The bloc doubled in size at last year’s summit, noted Ritter, and appears set to continue to expand as it challenges the Western-oriented G7 group.”
Ritter added: “With continued higher growth rates and the potential to add more members, BRICS looks likely to overtake the G7 in economic size within two decades. The theme that Vladimir Putin painted was one that showed Russia to be in a sound place economically, a growing economy, a diversifying economy, an economy that was adapting to the new reality of a multilateral, multipolar world, an economy that is very much linked to the future expansion and success of BRICS.... He is speaking openly about a currency that will replace the dollar-dominated global economy, not sometime in the theoretical future, but now, something that can emerge out of the BRICS summit. He de-emphasized the conflict in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin made it clear that Russia will win this conflict. He also made it clear that there are options on how this conflict can come to an end.”
