New Delhi: Russian President Vladimir Putin delivered a strong critique of G-7 nations and Western economic restrictions during his address at the BRICS Business Forum in New Delhi, taking place ahead of the formal opening of the 18th BRICS Summit. His remarks followed a bilateral meeting with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Highlighting the shifting balance in the global economy, Putin questioned the prominence of G-7 nations and emphasised the rapid expansion of BRICS economies.

"Over the last five years, more than 40% of the world's GDP has been produced by the BRICS countries, where the contribution of the so-called G7, the Great 7 - I don't know why they call that - stands at only 29%. Speaking about the growth of the world economy over the same period, we see that more than half of that growth has been accounted for by BRICS, whereas the G7 has only accounted for 18%. Why is that?” he said.

“The answer is simple, BRICS countries account for more than half of the world's population and that is why, they have a great dynamic, vibrant, domestic markets," he added.

Putin condemned the extensive trade restrictions and secondary sanction threats imposed by the United States, including proposed legislation targeting nations like India that purchase Russian oil.

“Sometimes competition is taking some ugly forms. This ugly form is something we see even at the State level, at the government level. Sometimes the measures resorted to are of physical nature, when pipelines are being destroyed, when attempts are undertaken to block international transport corridors to seize maritime vessels, illegal restrictions are applied and there is also the threat of so-called secondary sanctions against those who do not want to follow someone else's interest and rather look after their own,” he said.

“More than 30,000 sanctions have been slapped on Russia which is twice as much as the number of all sanctions against all other countries of the world combined...Against this difficult backdrop, Russia has been working actively and Russia has managed to achieve great success. We have reinforced our national sovereignty, we are developing ties with reliable, predictable partners...During the last three years, the economic growth in Russia has been superior to the world average," he added.

Addressing global economic shifts, Putin noted that emerging economies are steadily overtaking traditional Western powers.

“It is explained by the fact that the so-called old leaders which used to be the vanguard of economic growth in the second half of the 20th century, are being replaced by new engines of growth. When I say old, this is just a formality - all of us understand what we are talking about,” he said.

“These so-called old leaders are still in possession of great strong suits and well-developed infrastructure, technological advantages, scientific advantages, scientific schools and so on and so forth. That's sad, this isn't the nature of things. This isn't the nature of humanity and the nature of economy. The world is always changing," he added. (ANI)