Putin at BRICS summit calls for speedy transition to new economic, financial system

KAZAN. Oct 23 (Interfax) - The transition to a fairer global economic system will be delayed if foreign financial platforms are used and if "foreign rules are followed," Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

"Aspiring for cooperation, we should still understand that the longer we live and work according to foreign rules and on foreign platforms, the longer this transition to a new and fairer economic and financial system will last, and it may be accompanied by big shocks, including those that we are seeing, in particular, in the Middle East," Putin said at an expanded session at the BRICS summit in Kazan, commenting on the speech by BRICS New Development Bank President Dilma Rousseff, who said the dollar is being used as a weapon.

"Yes, indeed, we see that it is really so. I think it's a big mistake on the part of those who are doing it because the use of the dollar - and it is still an important instrument in global finance - as a means of achieving political ends undermines confidence in this currency and reduces its capabilities," Putin said.

"But we are not the ones doing it, other people are doing it. But we are not refusing, not fighting the dollar, but if they don't let us work with it, what can we do: we then have to look for other alternatives, which is happening," Putin said.