Russian President Vladimir Putin reaffirmed the significance of the BRICS for strengthening the autonomous development of emerging countries and especially Latin America. “The Brics are not some kind of military alliance. They are simply a platform to coordinate positions and develop mutually acceptable solutions based on sovereignty, independence and mutual respect.” Putin inaugurated the “Russia-Latin America” International Parliamentary Conference on Friday with a speech where, in addition to greeting the more than 200 participants from numerous Latin American countries, he underlined his country's willingness to build interaction at the bilateral level and with associations. integration such as Celac, ALBA and Mercosur. The Russian president announced that his country, which after the recent Brics summit in South Africa assumed the pro tempore presidency of the group in 2024, will help “to ensure that these structures establish practical links with the Eurasian Economic Union and compare approaches on current policy issues.” trade, tariff regulation, investment stimulation and technology transfer.” After pointing out that Russia has information “about what is happening in different Latin American countries” and recognizing that “different political forces have different attitudes towards the associations that I mentioned, including the process of joining the BRICS,” he noted that his government knows "the different trends in different political spheres, especially on the eve of various political events within these countries." Putin assured that “no matter what political parties in those countries join, have joined, want to join, work with… organizations (like) the Brics. No matter what happens in the political arena or in those parties, everyone is forced to be guided by the mood of the people. And the mood of the voters, in the broad sense of the word, in all Latin American countries is such that they fight for freedom and independence. “All countries and political parties in the Latin American region must take this into account.”