BRICS brings a new business order, through which Russia has recognized that it doesn’t need the West, retired CIA intelligence officer and State Department official Larry Johnson told Sputnik.
“The countries that have broken economic relations with Russia are the ones that are suffering. Russia is thriving because Russia recognizes that Europe and the United States are not the center of the universe,” he said.
Commenting on Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Tucker Carlson, where the top diplomat spoke on the Ukraine crisis, Johnson criticized Washington’s involvement in the conflict.
“If the shoe was on the other foot, and Russia was supplying weapons to groups in Mexico or groups in Canada, and those groups were attacking the US, the US would hold Russia accountable for that. It would be viewed as an act of war,” he pointed out.
Russia has now made a very serious pivot in its relations: it has decided to partner and join forces with China, the expert added.
“[Moscow is] creating a new international order, an order that's based upon mutual respect, an order that treats all countries, regardless of size, regardless of whether they have nuclear weapons or not, regardless of whether they have critical mineral deposits, treat them all as equals,” he elaborated.