Andrei Kolesnikov on Vladimir Putin’s video speech at the BRICS summit in Johannesburg

On August 22, the 15th BRICS Summit began in Johannesburg, where Russian President Vladimir Putin took part in video mode. Kommersant’s special correspondent Andrei Kolesnikov drew attention to the fact that the voice of the Russian President in a live broadcast from the BRICS business forum has changed beyond recognition. He himself, however, remained in his usual form.

The business forum, which is traditionally held before the start of the BRICS summit, lasted several hours. By the time the heads of state appeared, its participants gave the impression of people exhausted by fruitful discussions. They had too much to say to each other. The moderators began to hurry the speakers in high white chairs on the stage, it seemed, even before they climbed it.

Vladimir, please! – a moderator from South Africa invited one of the Russian participants to the microphone.

He began to talk, of course, about the grain deal (“Recently at the Russia-Africa summit in St. Petersburg …”), but was brutally interrupted:

– We understand what you want to say, Vladimir! Let’s applaud our expert!

A minute later, the quick-witted moderator managed to completely clear the stage for the next discussion, which also developed to an offensively short one: another family of speakers had to speak out.

At the same time, according to Kommersant, when it was the turn of the leaders of states to speak, it turned out that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi had not yet arrived, so the rest were waiting for him backstage, and the stage was already unforgivably naked.

Finally, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, and Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Commerce Minister Wang Wentao, who represented China, appeared trip to the BRICS summit, and entrusted the speech to the minister, whose shares after that, no doubt, grew, including in his own eyes).

Vladimir Putin was not late this time: his address was recorded ahead of time, and those who watched it on the BRICS website could turn on the Rossiya-24 TV channel and enjoy another Vladimir Putin, already at a meeting of the Council for Strategic Development and National Projects . And then it was necessary to try to prove to such a person that Mr. Putin does not have a double. After all, he is there, and he is here. But not everything is so simple. Nowhere was it written that Mr. Putin was speaking live.

However, this happened later. In the meantime, the South African moderator represented the participating countries.

“Your performances are the main course,” he addressed the leaders on stage. “And I – as an appetizer!”

The snack, however, was hot.

“India,” he said, “supplied slaves to South Africa in the 1600s. And they changed this country! And Mahatma Gandhi then honed his political teeth on this fact!

Narendra Modi at this point would have been happy to sharpen his political teeth on a moderator.

– And the famous poet Alexander Pushkin! the moderator exclaimed. “His ancestor Ibrahim (in the Russian version, Abram.— A.K.) Petrovich Hannibal was taken from Cameroon to Istanbul, and then to Russia, where he became a noble man! So we all have connections!

Now it was just obvious.

The speakers were not brief, but they were remembered, one might say, for nothing. Cyril Ramaphosa spoke incendiary about the role of women in South African society. As it became clear, he had the main stake on them, all other potential was more or less exhausted.

Brazilian President Lula da Silva, noting that the BRICS countries have outstripped the G7 countries in terms of purchasing power growth (but not in purchasing power itself), he listed the main human needs for so long (although, it seems, they all fit into the main biblical commandments) that at some point, he suddenly became confused and looked at the papers with his speech for a long time, until he finally found:

– Yes, I missed it here: the main source of life is water!

How could it have been missed?

Then the moderator announced Vladimir Putin’s speech, and the hall, consisting of representatives of the business community, became extremely lively. There was a big noise. Maybe they expected the appearance of a living Vladimir Putin. But the moderator said that there would be an appeal.

The speech of the President of Russia was predictably confrontational:

“We have to solve complex, complex economic problems against the backdrop of ever-deepening volatility in the stock, currency, energy, and food markets,” he said, “under conditions of significant inflationary pressure, caused, among other things, by the irresponsible actions of a number of countries to carry out large-scale emissions to smooth out the costs of the pandemic that provokes the accumulation of private and public debt.

Interestingly, on the BRICS website, some other person (double?) spoke for Vladimir Putin. This man had a booming baritone voice. And it was so unusual! Apparently, the organizers failed to include the original audio.

Meanwhile, the mandatory program of Vladimir Putin’s speech included the following paragraph:

“The illegitimate sanctions practice, the illegal freezing of the assets of sovereign states, and, in fact, the violation of all the basic norms and rules of free trade and economic life, which not so long ago seemed unshakable, also has a serious negative impact on the international economic situation.

It is the developing and poor countries that are suffering first of all. But at the same time, not Russia: as one could understand from the speech of the President of Russia on the Rossiya-24 TV channel, at the same time, July-October of this year, our country, against which sanctions are primarily aimed, will triumphantly run with a budget surplus.

– A direct consequence of this was a shortage of resources, increased inequality, rising unemployment, exacerbation of other chronic problems of the world economy. Prices for foodstuffs, for basic agricultural products and grain crops go up…

The South African moderator could cut off one of the Russian Vladimirovs when he started talking about the grain deal, but he had no chance to cut off the other:

– Russia is deliberately obstructed in the supply of grain and fertilizers abroad and at the same time they are hypocritically accusing us of the current crisis situation on the world market, – said Vladimir Putin. – This was clearly manifested in the implementation of the so-called grain deal, concluded with the participation of the UN to ensure global food security, reduce the threat of hunger and help the poorest countries.

The President of Russia repeated what seemed to have been done many times over:

— We have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that during the year, as part of the deal, a total of 32.8 million tons of cargo was exported from Ukraine, of which more than 70 percent went to countries with high and upper middle income levels, including primarily the European Union. And only about three percent came from the least developed countries – that is, less than one million tons.

He told how the deal was canceled and under what conditions Russia, that is, he, Vladimir Putin, can return to it.

“I have repeatedly said that our country is able to replace Ukrainian grain both on a commercial basis and in the form of gratuitous assistance to needy states, especially since we again expect an excellent harvest this year,” the Russian president explained. “As a first step, we a decision was made to send 25-50 thousand tons of grain to six African countries free of charge, including free delivery of these goods. Negotiations with partners are coming to an end.

That is, apparently, Russia, Turkey and Qatar agree on this.

– Thank you! – a moderator from South Africa found a kind word for Vladimir Putin in Russian.

After all, he represented on this stage not the richest part of the African continent.

On behalf of the Chinese President, the Chinese minister told the audience about the strategic development and the main national project:

We want to build a beautiful China!

There was deafening applause.

Because it was just all very clear.

Andrey Kolesnikov