Post misleading Russian leader presented BRICS currency to Kazan member states

The post has three images: one of Putin holding what appears to be a banknote and the other two show the front and back of a banknote with a face value of “100” units and the flags of different countries.

The claim was shared here on Instagram. Similar versions of the claim without the image were found on X (here, here and here).

The bloc held its 16th summit in Kazan, Russia from October 22-24, 2024 with representatives from 36 countries and six international organizations. BRICS now has 10 member countries in total after the admission of Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE in January (archived here).

A few hours before the closing of the summit, the BRICS issued a 33-page document titled “Kazan Declaration”. This document outlines the bloc's vision for global governance, economic development, and international cooperation (archived here).

However, the claim that Putin presented a “single BRICS currency” during the meeting is misleading.

There is no implementation of money

AFP's Fact Check read from 134 lines of the Kazan Declaration. No decision has been made on a single currency other than calls for another payment system that aims to allow member countries to conduct cross-border trade in local currencies.

“We encourage the strengthening of intra-BRICS banking networks and enabling local currency payments in accordance with the BRICS Cross-Border Payments Initiative (BCBPI), which is voluntary and non-binding, and we look forward to further discussions in this area, including with BRICS. Payment Task Force ,” the announcement read in part.

AFP Fact Check also performed a reverse image search on a photo of Putin holding a banknote.

The results led to an album page containing official images from the conference's dedicated website (archived here). Among them is the same photo – and additional photos from different angles – of Putin holding the banknotes.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin after the meeting of heads of BRICS delegations in extended form as part of the XVI BRICS summit in Kazan,” reads the caption. It is not said, however, what was in Putin's hand.

AFP covered the BRICS summit and filmed Putin being handed “paper money” by an attendee on the second day. Putin then addressed it to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a simple gesture.

Local media reported that while answering questions about the “money” from journalists at the conference, Putin's press secretary Dmitry Peskov said that the president was given this symbolic money “by one of our people – be it the Chamber of Commerce and Industry or someone else – to print this quasi-money” (kept here).

The “banknote” was described by Russian state news agencies (here and here) as “ridiculous” or “symbolic” (archived here and here).

Russia was kicked out of the global financial messaging system Swift following a series of sanctions imposed as a result of its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 (archived here).

During the conference, Putin accused the US of using the dollar as a “weapon” but did not announce a global alternative to the greenback, said Agathe Demarais, senior policy officer at the European Council on Foreign Relations (archived here).

“No money was presented at the BRICS summit. “What Russia is trying to push is a financial system that connects the major banks of the BRICS countries so that they can exchange digital currencies,” Demarais told AFP Fact Check by email.

Repetitive claim

Claims about the introduction of a new BRICS currency are not new.

During the 2023 BRICS summit in South Africa, images of money purported to be in both banknote and crypto form were widely shared online (such as here, here and here) and were described as the legal tender of member states of the organization.

This was false and several fact-checking organizations debunked the post (like here, here and here).

However, the photos of the 2023 notes that were said to be in circulation are similar to the example Putin was photographed with in Kazan – although the 2023 one was a 100 note while the 2024 one was a 50 note.

Days after the 2023 summit, Russia's ambassador to South Africa, Ilya Rogachev, presented the head of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) embassy Mahash Saeed Alhameli with a “symbolic currency” of one BRICS currency with a face value of 100 units. (archived here).

The souvenir was presented during a reception at the UAE embassy in Pretoria – the administrative capital of South Africa – to honor the country's status as one of the new BRICS member countries.

Rogachev reportedly said the book was made in Russia.