BRICS AS RUSSIA'S SOFT POWER TO WEAKEN THE HEGEMONY OF THE US DOLLAR

This study aims to explain/identify how BRICS as a multinational economic organization becomes one of the tools of Russia's foreign policy strategy to weaken the hegemonic position of the US Dollar in the global economic order. If we look at the development of Geopolitical dynamics after the Cold War, the current geopolitical dynamics seem to still be influenced by the rivalry between the Eastern and Western blocs in the Cold War era, even though the Soviet Union has dissolved/collapsed, Russia as a new form of the Soviet Union seems to still be affected by negative sentiments about America, and America also has negative sentiments about Russia. These negative sentiments ultimately also become the main navigator for both parties to formulate their political direction towards each other. There are many indicators that can be used as premises in building assumptions about the conditions of rivalry between America and Russia in the post-cold war era, these premises such as the positions of America and Russia in global conflicts that are always at odds, for example the opposing positions of America and Russia in Middle Eastern conflicts, especially the Syrian conflict, then the Russian-American positions that are also at odds regarding the China-Taiwan tensions in the East Asia region, and not to forget the very contrasting differences regarding the Russia-Ukraine conflict, where America in this conflict openly sides with Ukraine and provides massive militaristic support to Ukraine. By looking at the things that have been explained earlier, in this study, the author will try to explain how the rivalry between America and Russia in global politics is not only seen in terms of disputes in militaristic conflicts, but also see how this rivalry is also proven by the existence of economic competition that is seen from Russia's de-dollarization efforts by using BRICS as its political tools.