Legal guidelines for international military cooperation of the Russian Federation from the perspective of the results of the XVI BRICS Summit (theoretical note)

Kholikov Ivan Vladimirovich ORCID: 0000-0003-0421-5829 Doctor of Law Professor, Chief Researcher at the Center for International Law and Comparative Legal Studies, Professor of the Department of International Law; Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation 34 Bolshaya Cheremushkinskaya str., Moscow, 117218, Russia iv_kholik@mail.ru

Naumova Tat'yana YUr'evna ORCID: 0000-0001-5767-0820 Postgraduate student; Department of International Law; Institute of Legislation and Comparative Law under the Government of the Russian Federation 34 Bolshaya Cheremushkinskaya str., Moscow, 117218, Russia t.popova.d@mail.ru

Introduction

A landmark event in world politics and international law was the holding of the XVI BRICS Summit in Russia on October 22-24, 2024. The BRICS Summit was chaired by the Russian Federation: on April 3, 2023, Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin signed a decree on holding a meeting of the heads of BRICS states in 2024 in Kazan and approved the Regulations on the Organizing Committee of the BRICS summit, as well as its chairman, who was appointed Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Foreign Policy Affairs Yuri Viktorovich Ushakov.

BRICS is an interstate informal association of the most dynamically developing large countries. The concept of "unification" is due to the fact that the BRICS does not have a charter or charter. BRICS is a successful platform for strengthening comprehensive cooperation between states with economies with high potential for growth.

The BRICS abbreviation is formed from the first letters of the names of the member countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa (in English). The expansion of BRICS logically raised the question of whether the name of the association would be retained, but the current name was left unchanged, because BRICS has already become a world-famous brand.

At the time of the summit, 10 countries of the world had membership in BRICS: Russia, Brazil, India, China, South Africa, Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, Saudi Arabia. The BRICS countries make up 45% of the world's population, and their share of global GDP at purchasing power parity by the end of 2024 was 36.7%.

The Russian Federation chaired the XVI BRICS 2024 Summit under the motto "Strengthening multilateralism for equitable global development and security". One of the ways to strengthen global security and Russia's security is the development of international military cooperation, including with BRICS member and partner countries.

The Russian Federation hosted 35 delegations from different countries and 6 international organizations within the framework of the XVI BRICS 2024 summit. The summit was attended by UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, officials of the SCO, the Executive Committee of the CIS, the EEC, the SG of Russia and Belarus and the head of the New BRICS Development Bank Dilma Rousseff.

Methodology and a brief review of the literature

To reveal the legal trends of international military cooperation of the Russian Federation from the perspective of the results of the XVI BRICS summit held in Russia (Kazan) on October 22-24, 2024, this work uses systematic ^[22], comparative legal ^[23] and doctrinal approaches ^[18], as well as analytical, classification and generalizing methods of scientific search ^{[17; 19]}.

The theoretical guidelines of scientific research within the framework of the stated topic were the works of T.Ya. Khabrieva ^[35], O.V. Damaskin ^{[8; 9]}, A.Ya. Kapustin ^{[14; 24]}, V.V. Kudashkin ^[21] and others.

Trends in the development of international military cooperation and its individual areas have become the subject of generalization and scientific discussions at various venues ^{[1; 3-5; 7; 10; 11; 15; 16; 26; 27; 30; 33; 38]}, They were also studied in the scientific works of E.S. Andrienko ^[2], A.I. Zemlin ^{[12; 13]}, A.A. Kostyukhina ^[16], V.V. Kudashkina ^[20], V.V. Stezhko ^[32], D. Todorovsky ^[34], E.N. Erdenebayara ^[44] and author's developments ^{[36; 37; 39-42]}.

In these works, international military cooperation is studied in detail: its essence, structure, functions, legal aspects and problematic issues are described, generalized and fixed theoretically and empirically. The above-mentioned works pose problems of the organization and legal support of international military cooperation, at the same time, their disclosure does not always have enough specifics and disclosure of the current state. The present study makes it possible to fill in the existing lack of results of the analysis of the current state of international military cooperation of the Russian Federation with foreign states and legal support for such.

Current trends in the global world order ^[6] and the transformation of the international legal order ^[43], as well as the objective construction of a multipolar world, require a study of the legal aspects of international military cooperation following the results of the XVI BRICS Summit on October 22-24, 2024, held in Russia with the participation of the United Nations.

The results of the study

The BRICS 2024 Summit became the largest international event where the most important issues were discussed: simplification of trade procedures between states, adoption of a comprehensive convention on combating international terrorism within the framework of the United Nations; implementation of common projects in the field of biomedicine, space science and polar research; exchange of best practices in the field of intellectual property rights protection; reform of the Bretton Woods InstitutionsThrough the expansion of the contribution of developing countries to the world economy ^[29]; the negative impact of unilateral sanctions on the world economy and other areas; peaceful settlement of conflicts in different regions of the world and the elimination of their root causes, and other issues.

The BRICS summit adopted the Kazan Declaration of October 23, 2024, containing 134 paragraphs on 43 pages, "Strengthening multilateralism for equitable global Development and security", which is planned to be presented to the UN. This document, which is likely to become one of the key international legal documents for the whole world for many years to come, proposes to reform the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, reform the UN and the UN Security Council to increase democracy, representativeness and efficiency, form a new banking system and settlement system independent of the United States and the US dollar, to use national currencies without reference to the US dollar, to create a single transport and logistics platform. In addition, the Declaration condemns the use of discriminatory and politically motivated sanctions and contains the position of the BRICS member countries on the further development of the association on various global issues, sanctions, and the settlement of regional crises, including in Ukraine and the Middle East.

During the summit in Kazan, it was also decided to introduce the BRICS Pay payment system, designed to facilitate the exchange of financial information between the central banks of the Union countries and act as an alternative to the SWIFT international interbank system. This system should facilitate international settlements. The BRICS countries have agreed to explore the possibility of creating an independent cross-border settlement and depository infrastructure BRICS Clear. The BRICS states supported the use of alternative currencies within the pool of foreign exchange reserves of the association and proposed the creation of "an independent reinsurance potential of the BRICS, including the BRICS (Re) Insurance company with participation on a voluntary basis."

To the status of "invited countries", which is Argentina, it was also proposed at the summit to add a new category of states that have received the status of "BRICS partner countries" - Turkey, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Algeria, Belarus, Bolivia, Cuba, Indonesia, Malaysia, Nigeria, Thailand, Uganda and Vietnam.

The BRICS member countries have come up with key initiatives on the most pressing topics in the world, calling for preventing an arms race in outer space, developing a document on security in outer space; strengthening the non-proliferation regime and a nuclear-weapon-free zone in the Middle East. There was a reminder of the national positions on the conflict in Ukraine, and proposals for mediation were noted.

The BRICS countries welcomed the creation of a new investment platform that will use the infrastructure of the New Development Bank. The leaders supported an increase in the number of shareholder countries of the New Development Bank and accelerated consideration of applications from the countries of the association. The BRICS states agreed to intensify financial cooperation against the background of geopolitical risks, pointing to the need to reform the current international financial architecture to solve financial problems.

As part of the development of international military cooperation, the BRICS countries proposed: to simplify trade procedures between states; to adopt a convention on combating international terrorism within the framework of the United Nations; to strengthen practical international cooperation in combating terrorism; to continue cooperation in combating transnational crime without politicization; to expand dialogue in the field of export control; to create a single transport platform to ensure multimodal logistics between the countries of the association; expand cooperation in the field of remote sensing satellites; jointly resist unilateral protectionist measures that do not comply with the WTO; strengthen cooperation on the exchange of scientific and technical information, materials and equipment for peaceful purposes.

The BRICS countries noted concerns in the field of global and national security at the present stage, reaffirmed their commitment to the peaceful settlement of conflicts in the world and the elimination of their root causes through diplomacy, mediation, comprehensive dialogue and 10 consultations based on coordination and cooperation. The States called on the international community to seek collective responses to global and regional security challenges and threats and recognized the importance of expanding cooperation on counter-narcotics issues.

The BRICS countries will continue to develop inter-parliamentary cooperation, and their leaders also recognized the importance of dialogue between the political parties of the association. At the same time, support and strengthening of humanitarian ties were announced ^[14].

The States expressed their positions on world conflicts and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the release of all hostages without preconditions; warned that the escalation in Gaza is fraught with global consequences, called on the parties to the conflict to exercise restraint; condemned Israeli attacks against humanitarian points and infrastructure facilities in Palestine; advocated unconditional respect for the sovereignty of Syria and the protection of its condemning terrorist attacks on cross-border energy infrastructure facilities and calling for their unbiased investigation.

All forms of terrorism have been condemned. The BRICS countries assessed the activities of the BRICS Working Group on Counterterrorism (RGAT) and its five subgroups on the basis of the BRICS Anti-Terrorism Strategy and the BRICS Action Plan on Combating Terrorism, including the adoption of the RGAT Position Paper, from a very positive point of view. The need to expand the dialogue within the framework of the BRICS on the laundering of proceeds from crime and countering the financing of terrorism with the participation of relevant stakeholders was noted.

The leaders look forward to the adoption at the 79th session of the UN General Assembly of the draft convention of the World Organization for Combating Cybercrime in connection with the importance of international cooperation in preventing and countering the use of ICT for criminal purposes ^[31]. The summit emphasized the importance of ensuring the integrity of information, the security of the information space ^{[24; 28]}, the need for free flow of information ^[35] and open access to reliable facts, as well as the protection of personal information.

The BRICS countries advocated a multipolar world order ^[45]. As Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro correctly noted, BRICS is becoming the epicenter of a new world order. Multipolarity will help empower developing and emerging market countries to unlock their constructive potential and ensure inclusive and equitable economic globalization and cooperation for all. The States are committed to further deepening cooperation within the expanded BRICS in three main areas – politics and security, economics and finance, cultural and humanitarian ties, as well as strengthening strategic partnership for the benefit of the citizens of the BRICS countries by promoting peace, a more representative and equitable international order, a renewed and reformed multilateral system of sustainable development and inclusive growth.

Within the framework of cooperation in the field of medicine, among the projects related to nuclear medicine, the BRICS countries agreed to strengthen ties and cooperation in the development of new vaccines and new projects developing the progressive topical field of nuclear medicine, which makes a great contribution to the development of world medicine ^[25].

Conclusion

In 2024, the most significant socio-political, socio-economic and military-strategic event in the world was the holding of the XVI BRICS Summit on October 22-24 in Kazan. This paper conceptualizes the main outcomes and trends following the results of this summit. Solving the problem of determining the legal trends of international military cooperation of the Russian Federation from the perspective of the results of the XVI BRICS Summit determines the knowledge of its essence as an international legal phenomenon. The expansion of cooperation within the framework of BRICS involves both the development of the military component of the association and the corresponding legal support for its activities.

The XVI BRICS Summit−2024 became the largest international forum where the most important issues of global politics, economics, security and development of cooperation between the BRICS countries in three main areas were discussed – politics and security, economics and finance, cultural and humanitarian ties, as well as strengthening strategic partnership for the benefit of the citizens of the BRICS countries through the promotion of peace. The BRICS countries advocated a multipolar world order and condemned the use of unilateral sanctions, noting concerns about global and national security at the present stage and commitment to the peaceful settlement of conflicts in the world and the elimination of their root causes. The XVI BRICS 2024 summit not only questioned the claims of the Western media about the isolation of the Russian Federation on the world stage, it proved the impossibility of such isolation, its holding in Russia showed great respect for our state and support for it from the participating countries, invited countries, BRICS partner countries and leading international organizations. Cooperation in the BRICS format is certainly one of the main vectors of the Russian Federation's long-term foreign policy. As Yuri Ushakov, Assistant to the President of the Russian Federation for Foreign Policy Affairs, emphasized, the BRICS countries actually, in fact, express the interests of the World majority, noting the importance of further strengthening solidarity, expanding cooperation between the BRICS countries based on common interests and key priorities and further building up our strategic partnership.