Mikhail Mishustin’s high-level visit to Brazil highlights a calculated Russia–Brazil convergence, reshaping BRICS cooperation, de-dollarization and challenging U.S. dominance in the Western Hemisphere.

Taking place within the framework of the VIII Russian–Brazilian High-Level Commission on Cooperation (CAN), the visit goes far beyond routine bilateral diplomacy. It signals a deliberate convergence of strategic interests between two major BRICS members at a time of systemic international fragmentation, heightened Western pressure on Russia, and renewed U.S. assertions of influence over the Western Hemisphere.

Economic Interdependence as Strategic Leverage

Brazil is Russia’s most important economic partner in Latin America. In 2025, bilateral trade reached US$10.9 billion, with Brazilian exports amounting to roughly US$1.5 billion and Russian exports—dominated by fertilizers—reaching US$9.4 billion.

While these figures are significant, both governments openly acknowledge that they fall short of the potential offered by the scale, resources, and technological capacities of the two nations. Brazilian Vice-President and Minister of Development, Industry, and Commerce Geraldo Alckmin explicitly framed this imbalance as both a challenge and an opportunity, calling for greater diversification and higher value-added cooperation in agribusiness, energy,........

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