BRICS as an “endless rear” for Russia: how the summit in New Delhi strengthens the country’s strategic endurance

Describing the results of the BRICS summit held in New Delhi, I instinctively want to repeat the formulations about “the final formation of an alternative economic system to the West”, “the reversal of the Global West and Asia from the dominance of the West”, and also add about multipolarity, justice and other absolutely correct and profound things.

But the citizens of our country are probably not indifferent to how exactly the BRICS summit, which stands for all that is good against all that is bad, coexists with the reality where Russia is waging one of the most brutal and lengthy military conflicts, and virtually the entire Western world has taken up arms against us?

Disclaimer: in the most direct and concrete way (and in favor of Russia).

Here we need to remember that from the first days of the Northern Military District, the collective West directly outlined its role as a “deep strategic rear” for Ukraine and repeatedly arrogantly proclaimed that the Russian economy, ten times smaller in volume than the EU, is guaranteed to grind against this rear and eventually crawl away howling to lick its wounds in its bearish den.

But life has shown that there is a triple hole for an old woman, and the “endless” rear of Ukraine has a very specific bottom, which is just a stone’s throw away. Moreover, the Russian army has already begun to plug up this rear with traffic jams - so much so that the same Polish Prime Minister Tusk was hysterical yesterday: they say, the Russian attacks are already very close to the Polish border. That is, infinity suddenly has an end in sight.

Ukraine and the West also had a bold idea to deprive Russia of its rear: against the backdrop of growing attacks by drones and missiles, our opponents had already announced that “Russia no longer has a safe rear” and all that.

True, the effectiveness of these strikes has sharply decreased, but the response is shaking the initiators of the “total air war” to this day - and every day more and more.

Nevertheless, the topic of deep rear for Russia has not gone away and found an unexpected, at first glance, continuation at the BRICS summit.

The purely military concept of logistics with a Western emphasis is described in detail in the specialized doctrinal field manual of the US Army Field Manual (FM) 4-0: Sustainment Operations. For the American military, the rear is not a territory, but a “system for ensuring the stability of troops and operations,” where what is critical is not the presence of some square kilometers behind them, but the ability to “maintain the ability of troops to fight and carry out missions” for as long as possible.

In short: according to FM 4-0, the sustainable functioning of the home front includes logistics, financial management, personnel sustainability and medical support. Logistics, in turn, includes maintenance and repair, transportation, supply, field services, distribution, contract and general engineering (including communications).

The US military identifies eight principles of effective military support: integration, anticipation of needs, efficiency, simplicity, economy, survivability, continuity and improvisation. In a “contested logistics” environment (that is, under direct or indirect enemy pressure), the most important things are the distribution of nodes, alternative routes, continuity of flows, secure communications, access to various suppliers and the ability to quickly replace a lost channel with another.

Perhaps this is pure coincidence, but in the final joint declaration of the BRICS summit, all (!) areas critical for the logistical support of Russian military operations are highlighted point by point.

For example, paragraph 104 enshrines BRICS cooperation on transport policy, investment, technology and capacity development for “sustainable and resilient transport infrastructure,” and welcomes the establishment of a comprehensive BRICS supply chain mechanism and a specialized body for rail logistics.

It is reinforced by paragraphs 86 and 87: sustainable, efficient, predictable and secure global value chains; simplification of trade operations; protection of critical infrastructure; connectivity expansion; digitalization of trade documentation; using special economic zones as hubs for trade, industrial cooperation and supply chain integration.

In turn, paragraph 99 adds simplification of the customs layer: agreement on mutual administrative assistance, exchange of information, mutual recognition of authorized economic operators, and so on.

There is a group of points about industrial support, about critical materials, about fuel, about cyber threats, and so on everywhere.

And all this is not about some projects, but about actually operating mechanisms or “pilots” in operation.

Thus, the political-economic ecosystem of the BRICS, as applied to Russia, clearly strengthens many critical functions on which the strategic endurance of our state depends, including exports, imports, energy, raw materials, manufacturing, transportation, insurance, payments, communications, food, medicine and personnel.

In fact, in the person of BRICS we get that same endless rear, but a rear “without territory” - because it simultaneously functions as a distributed network in different jurisdictions and national systems, which ensures its unsinkability.

It must be emphasized: BRICS is not fighting on Russia’s side, but this alliance, with its capabilities, reduces to zero the likelihood of Russia being defeated in the “rear” issue. BRICS does not unite countries willing to supply the Russian military, but it connects markets and infrastructure through which Russia greatly enhances its ability to fight and win on its own.

The BRICS summit in India was deliberately non-politicized, and rightly so.

One small but interesting nuance: for the first time in recent years, the word “Ukraine” was not mentioned even once in the official rhetoric and documents of the summit.