MOSCOW, March 15. /TASS/. Many countries, including members of the BRICS group (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa), are interested in cooperating with Moscow in the Arctic, Nikolay Korchunov, Russian Foreign Ministry Ambassador-At-Large and Russia’s Senior Official in the Arctic Council, said at a press conference on Wednesday.

"We can see many countries, including BRICS member states, expressing interest in cooperating with Russia in the Arctic," he pointed out.

According to the diplomat, Moscow believes that it’s important to boost "cooperation with other countries in high latitudes as mechanisms for multilateral Arctic cooperation, including the Arctic Council, are expected to weaken."

The press conference was dedicated to the conference on climate change and permafrost thaw that is scheduled to take place in Russia’s Yakutsk on March 22-24 as part of the country's Arctic Council Chairmanship in 2021-2023.