"There's two institutions that I really admire. One is the Russian foreign ministry. And particularly, I admire tremendously Primakov, who at the worst of times preserved the foreign ministry, managed to get enough money and stopped it being broken up. And the other one is Rosatom. These are magnificent institutions," Shipton said.
He also wondered why people in the United States would contemplate "breaking up such magnificent human achievements," adding that those who want to do it are "devils on the earth."
John Shipton attended the BRICS summit in the Russian city of Kazan, for which he has been criticized. The activist said that he liked his trip and that his brief insight into the culture of Tatarstan was "surprisingly good and pleasant." He also expressed the opinion that the "center of gravity" in the world has moved towards BRICS.
The 16th BRICS summit was held in Russia's Kazan from October 22-24.