MOSCOW, February 9. /TASS/. BRICS initiatives, including those on payments and investments, are not being put forward to spite the US, but to create mechanisms independent of Washington's tight control, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said.

During Russia’s BRICS chairmanship in 2024, at the Kazan summit, a number of Russian initiatives were adopted for implementation, "including alternative payment platforms, mechanisms for settlements in national currencies, reinsurance facilities for intra-BRICS trade and with BRICS partners, the establishment of a grain exchange, and a new investment platform," he said in an interview with the international network TV BRICS.

"These initiatives are not intended as a provocation against anyone, primarily the United States, but rather arise from the fact that the United States places strict control over all processes in these areas and demands unilateral concessions," Lavrov said.

"We have not refused contacts with them (the US - TASS) to the extent that they are willing to engage on a mutually beneficial basis. Naturally, we are interested, together with our BRICS partners, in creating an architecture that will not be subject to unlawful actions by any player on the Western flank," he emphasized.