By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge
KAZAN, Russia (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin told BRICS leaders on Thursday that the Middle East was on the brink of a full-scale war after a sharp rise in tensions between Israel and Iran, although the Kremlin chief also faced calls to end the war. the war in Ukraine.
The BRICS summit, attended by more than 20 leaders including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Turkey’s Tayyip Erdogan, demonstrated the depth of Russia’s ties beyond the Western world.
Much of the discussion at the summit in the Russian city of Kazan focused on the war in Ukraine and violence in the Middle East, although there were no signs that anything specific would be done to end either conflict.
“The level of confrontation between Israel and Iran has increased sharply. “All this looks like a chain reaction and puts the entire Middle East on the brink of a full-scale war,” Putin said, sitting next to Chinese President Xi Jinping.
Xi said after Putin that China wanted a political settlement in Ukraine, suggesting that joint efforts by Beijing and Brasilia offered the best chance for peace.
“We must work to early de-escalate the situation and pave the way for a political solution,” Xi said.
On the Middle East, Xi said there must be a comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, a halt to the spread of war in Lebanon and a return to the two-state solution, with states for both Israel and Palestine would be established.
‘FLAMES OF WAR’
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian criticized international organizations, especially the United Nations, for failing to end the conflict.
“The flames of war continue to rage in the Gaza Strip and the cities of Lebanon, and international institutions, especially the UN Security Council as an engine of international peace and security, lack the necessary effectiveness to extinguish the fires of this crisis,” Pezeshkian said. the BRICS.
Putin said that unless Palestinians get their state, they would feel the burden of “historical injustice” and the region would remain in “an atmosphere of permanent crisis with inevitable relapses of large-scale violence.”
The BRICS leaders in their summit declaration called for the establishment of a sovereign, independent and viable Palestinian state within the 1967 borders. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attended the summit.
At one of the BRICS+ meetings on Thursday, Indian Foreign Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar took the place of Modi, who also missed one of the group photos. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he could not travel to Russia due to a head injury.
China, which along with India buys about 90% of Russia’s oil, supported in various forms the entry of more global South countries into the BRICS group, Xi said.
United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, who was criticized by Kiev for attending the meeting in Russia, said peace was needed in Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine.
“We need peace in Ukraine,” Guterres said at the BRICS+ meeting, which was chaired by Putin. “A just peace in line with the UN Charter, international law and UN General Assembly resolutions.”
