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Senior Russian lawmaker says BRICS more attractive to Moscow than Group of Seven

The BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - collectively represent about 26% of the world’s geographic area and are home to 42% of the world’s population

Alexey Pushkov Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

Alexey Pushkov

© Mikhail Japaridze/TASS

MOSCOW, May 5. /TASS/. The top foreign policy lawmaker in Russia's lower house of parliament (the State Duma) said on Tuesday that Russia is more interested in cooperation within the BRICS group of emerging market nations rather than building relationships with the Group of Seven (G7) most industrialized countries.

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"The G7 [summit] that Germany is to host in June has turned into a club of the United States and its closest allies. It has no room for Russia or China," Alexey Pushkov, head of the International Affairs Committee at the Russian parliament's lower chamber, wrote on his Twitter account.

The BRICS countries - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - collectively represent about 26% of the world’s geographic area and are home to 42% of the world’s population.

In 2013, BRICS countries' share of global trade stood at 16.1%, 10.8% of military spending and 40.2% in production of non-renewable energy resources. The group's consumer market is the world's largest, growing by $500 billion a year.

Russia took over the presidency of the group on April 1.

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Foreign policy Alexey Pushkov G7 BRICS

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