MOSCOW, February 27. /TASS/. The number of countries that wish to join the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) rose to about two dozen in 2022, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Monday.

"Notably, the number of countries wishing to join BRICS and the Shanghai Cooperation Organization rose dramatically in the past two years, including the first year of the special military operation. The number currently stands at about two dozen," he pointed out at a meeting with heads of the Foreign Ministry’s branches in Russian regions.

The top diplomat emphasized that these are countries that "really play a very important role in their regions." "They include Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, Argentina, Mexico and a number of African nations," Lavrov went on to say. "Just listing the names points to the failure of [Western] attempts to isolate our country," he added.

According to the Russian foreign minister, the effect has been the opposite. "The understanding of the current developments as a tectonic geopolitical process pushes countries, which feel themselves independent and are guided by national interests rather than someone’s whims, to unite with those whom they see as like-minded. And here we have a huge opportunity for interaction with our colleagues," Lavrov concluded.