OREANDA-NEWS  The "grotesque" BRICS summit in Kazan clearly showed that the West's policy of isolating Russia has failed. Philip Johnston, a columnist for the British edition of The Daily Telegraph, stated this in his article.

According to him, the heads of about 20 countries arrived at the BRICS summit, which was a diplomatic victory for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The journalist is sure that the event is "of great importance in terms of the balance of power in the world."

He stressed that the BRICS countries are interested in reducing their dependence on the dollar. Johnston added that the new BRICS payment system, the creation of which is currently being worked out, will allow Russia to fight sanctions more effectively, which will directly affect the course of the conflict in Ukraine.

Earlier, Vedant Patel, deputy official representative of the US State Department, said that individual countries have the right to decide on their own whether they should cooperate with the BRICS or not. "As for Russia, we will continue to counteract its aggression and inform other countries that there can no longer be "business as usual" with the Russian Federation," he said.