Buenos Aires - Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and his Argentinian counterpart, Cristina Kirchner, called for a multipolar world order on Saturday as Moscow sought to boost ties with Latin America amid heightened East-West tensions.
Putin is on a six-day tour seeking to increase Moscow’s influence in the region at a time when the Ukraine crisis has eroded its relations with the US and Europe to their lowest ebb since the Cold War.
Kirchner is meanwhile waging her own fight against Washington, battling a US court ruling that Argentina must pay more than $1.3 billion (R14bn) by the end of the month to hedge funds refusing to accept the restructuring of the country’s defaulted debt.
Putin said Russia shared “a very similar, very close view of international relations” with Argentina, and voiced his support for Argentina’s long-standing territorial claim to the Falkland Islands.
Kirchner insisted that global institutions must be overhauled and made more multilateral. “We need to globally regulate the flow of capital that has turned the world into a financial casino.”
Putin will attend the Brics summit in Brazil. – Sapa-AFP