Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday, during a visit to India for the BRICS conference, that the bloc's Western competitors are trying to regain their former leadership in an improper way.
Speaking at the BRICS business forum, he said the West was resorting to destroying facilities and pipelines, as well as seizing ships, to maintain economic dominance, Reuters reports.
"We have always been told that competition is sacred, something that must not be touched. However, unfortunately, today your Western competitors are trying by all possible means to restore their former leadership. This competition sometimes takes on ugly forms," Putin said, as Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Iranian President Masoud Peshmerga and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa listened.
According to him, these forms include "direct physical attacks or destruction of industrial and logistical facilities, pipelines and so on."
Putin said that attempts were being made to block international transport corridors and seize ships, without providing details.
"Illegal restrictions are also being introduced, accompanied by threats of so-called secondary sanctions against those who refuse to act in someone else's interests and instead defend their own national interests," the Russian president said.
He added that BRICS would build "a new, sustainable platform for global growth."
Putin's statements followed on from the positions of the finance ministers and central bank governors of the BRICS countries, who expressed serious concern over what they said was the unilateral introduction of trade and financial measures, including increasing tariffs and introducing non-tariff barriers.
According to them, such measures distort trade and are not in line with World Trade Organization rules.
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