The Russian envoy gave the opening remarks, hailing BRICS and described the grouping as a dedicated platform of emerging powers, the developing world and the Global South – a “reflection of new realities”.During the interaction, the envoy also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskky at present is “very much an unelected president” after the end of his five-year term.Zelenskyy was elected as the President of Ukraine on April 21, 2019. The President of Ukraine is elected by the citizens of the country based on universal, equal and direct suffrage by means of secret ballot for five years, according to the official website of the President of Ukraine, which mentions Zelenskyy as the current president.”There are no provisions in the Ukrainian Constitution for a president to proceed without an election – war times or no war times. So, from this point of view, he is very much an unelected president,” Alipov claimed.The Russia-Ukraine conflict, which began in February 2022, entered its 1,000th day on Tuesday. Zelenskyy has championed the fight from the Ukranian side.During the interactions Alipov, responding to a query on whether a new world order could be achieved in the near future given that two major conflicts are underway, said, “I believe BRICS is very much capable of becoming a major platform for conflict resolution.””What we believe and what the process and discussions within BRICS have increasingly shown is that BRICS will be capable of at least being a discussion platform for conflict resolution. Whether it can resolve current or future conflicts remains to be seen,” Alipov said.Among the speakers was former Indian foreign secretary of India Kanwal Sibal who talked about the “narrative” associated with the Ukraine conflict, saying it was drawn largely from the Western press.
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