Western capitals usually dominate geopolitics, but Russia made the Global South an equal partner at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF), a prominent lawmaker from India’s ruling party has said. 

“This is a platform where you have far greater representation of the Global South, far greater participation... and their voice is heard,” Sujeet Kumar, a lawmaker from the upper house of the Indian Parliament, told RT on the sidelines of the forum, in which more than 130 countries attended.

Kumar thanked Russia for giving the Global South the opportunity to take part as an equal partner.

He noted that the Global South has almost no voice in global institutions such as the UN Security Council, IMF, and World Bank – and until India brought in the African Union as a member during its G20 presidency in 2023, Africa had no voice there either.

The UN Security Council with its five permanent members with veto power was created 80 years ago in the immediate aftermath of World War II. Noting that the African continent and India, the world’s largest democracy and most populous nation, is not a permanent member of the council, Kumar called for “alternate platforms” such as BRICS and the G20.

Moscow has supported the expansion of the Security Council to reflect the realities of the multipolar world.

The Indian lawmaker added that America’s behavior has often been hegemonistic in the last 30-40 years, after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

“I believe that you need more countries, more voices, to speak up, to find challenges, to find solutions to the challenges,” he said.

He also stated that India did not buckle to threats and pressure from the US, saying: “We are a self-respecting nation.”

India has resisted pressure from the US and Europe to stop buying oil from Russia and to scale back its ties with Moscow, saying its national interests will dictate its policies.

“The India of today is not a pushover... you can’t dictate terms to India... and the US has learned it the hard way,” Kumar said.

Kumar is the second politician from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s BJP party in recent days to slam the West.

On Wednesday, spokesman Jaiveer Shergill told RT: “The West has a single power dominance hangover,” adding that “The era of global hegemony... is over.”

Kumar noted that singling out Russia for sanctions was more about politics, adding that the US has violated the sovereignty of many countries through the years.

In January, US troops kidnapped Venezuelan President Nicholas Maduro and the Trump administration took control of the country’s oil sales, with the funds going into US-supervised accounts.