Underlining that Russia does 90 per cent of its payments with BRICS member countries through national currencies, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Friday, a day ahead of the summit of BRICS leaders in New Delhi on September 12-13.

In an online interaction with India-based journalists, organised by Russian media outlet Sputnik India, Peskov said, “Our two leaders are in a very close personal contact, they are very pragmatic… and they are as sincere as to be able to discuss in a very open and constructive way the most sensitive issues on the global agenda and our bilateral relations.”

He described BRICS as a flexible club organised around policy and security, economics and finance, and cultural and humanitarian cooperation.

“Like always, they (Modi and Putin) will touch on the bilateral agenda… Trade and economic cooperation have a very wide scope. You know that lots of issues cannot be discussed publicly, having some unfriendly countries that are trying to put obstacles in the way of further development of our cooperation. So it is being discussed discreetly, but in a very, very constructive manner,” he said, indicating the threat of sanctions from the Western countries on Indian businesses dealing with Russia.

“Indian companies are interested in the Russian market. They are interested in broadening their investments in the Russian economy in various projects. We appreciate and welcome that,” he said.

On the BRICS declaration on the war in West Asia where the UAE and Iran have been at loggerheads, Peskov said, “The UAE and Iran, understandably, there are contradictions in their positions, and understandably, they are now experiencing problems in their bilateral relations. We sincerely wish those countries who are good friends of Russia to overcome this very hard period in their history, and Russia is ready to contribute, if it is necessary, in normalisation of the relationship. We stand for security in the region. We stand for mutual trust. We deny any aggressive actions in the region, and we hope that sooner or later the situation will be normalised.

“So, you ask if it influences the processes within BRICS… Yes, of course, it has a negative impact, and it gets the work on drafting the papers on declaration more complicated. But we have very talented diplomats, and we have very talented diplomats on the side of the Indian presidency. We have no doubt that necessary phrasings will be found in order to satisfy national interests of both countries concerned,” he said.

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Peskov doubled down on the issue of Russia-Ukraine war, and blamed the West including Europe. “We know the position of India on the Ukrainian conflict, and to a great extent, by the way, it corresponds with our own position, because we do want the solution of the Ukrainian conflict by peaceful means, and Russia is open to this process. We actually never wanted this war. What we are trying to do, we are trying to stop the war that was launched before, and it was not launched by us. It was not started by us.”

Asked about India’s possible role, he said, “We welcome all attempts to make any contribution in the sphere of Ukraine settlement. We welcome the willingness of the Indian side to contribute. We welcome the efforts of American President Trump. He is really willing to contribute to the solution, and you know that very serious work is being done. American negotiators are spending lots of time and lots of effort, travelling between Moscow and Kyiv these days, conveying each other’s positions. We hope that there will be some movement in this respect, we hope for the restart of negotiations between the three parties: Russian, Ukrainian and American. So we do hope for the best. We do hope that sooner or later we will pursue a peaceful way of solution.”

On sanctions imposed on Russia, Peskov said, “We do not accept, and we consider it to be illegal, definitely illegal in terms of international law, any attempt to introduce limitations on international trade and to threaten other countries, third parties for doing trade with others. We consider it illegal, unfair, and unacceptable.”

Asked about Russian energy supply to India, he said, “I wouldn’t give you the figure. I don’t want to give you any figures due to understandable reasons. But every month we have a new record.”

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On Indians in the Russian army, he said, “This issue was brought to the agenda by India… with great attentiveness, we approached this issue. Now work is being done to make a list of those Indian citizens who are now on the battlefield, and they will be sent back home as soon as determined. We are in very deep contact, profound contact with the Indian side on this issue.”

Asked about defence ties with India, he said, “We are satisfied with our cooperation in technical and military fields… We have very good military equipment… We are ready to share these equipment with our Indian partners. We went further in this cooperation than just selling and buying, we are producing jointly.”

“Cooperation in the military field is a very sensitive sphere, and of course, no one would discuss it publicly and openly,” he said.

On the delays in delivery of the S-400 air defence system to India, he said, “Russia is capable of fulfilling its obligation, and it will be fulfilled.”

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On the prospect of the Sukhoi-57 fighter aircraft, he said, “It is a very very sophisticated machine, and they are one of the best in the world. And then the issue of selling those machines to India is on the agenda. The Indian side is (for) production technologies, and this is a question for additional discussions… that are also underway. Every country, when it has brand new sophisticated machines, wants to keep the technologies within itself. So, given the fact of the advanced strategic partnership with India, we discuss possibilities… for sharing those technologies with our Indian partners. Military cooperation is, by its nature, not public. It’s of great importance, but it cannot be discussed very publicly and openly. It should be kept and should be conducted in silence, for the sake of effectiveness.”

On multipolarity in BRICS, he said the ideology and the nature of BRICS correspond with the ideology of a “multipolar world” because cooperation in BRICS is based on “mutual trust, mutual respect, mutual benefits in trade”.

The “unipolar system is actually collapsing… losing its competitiveness… At the same time, the unipolar system is trying to regain power… some very harsh steps injuring the global system, global economy, global environment and politics, and the global system of international law. So this is a very dangerous process. India is a player in the global majority. We do appreciate that India is really contributing to various processes in the global majority a lot,” he said.

On de-dollarisation, Peskov said, “BRICS is against no one. BRICS is for participating countries, for their national interests, and Russia is one of the BRICS countries. And Russia was deprived of the right to use the American dollar and to use the Euro. So it’s a reserve currency for the whole world, and the United States has taken a decision to deprive us of the right to use this reserve currency. What should we do? We should tell ourselves why don’t we use our own money? Is it worth the American dollar? No, to some extent it is even better. And we started to propose using national currencies to different countries. It’s not because we are against the dollar, and we do not want to claim any de-dollarisation policy. We are simply doing what better corresponds with our national interest… America is ruining trust in the US dollar, and the more trust is ruined, the more trust is going in favour of national currencies.”