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Moscow signals Pretoria that Macron’s attendance at BRICS summit inappropriate — diplomat

The group’s summit is slated to be held in Johannesburg on August 22-24

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov

© Russian Foreign Ministry Press Office/TASS

SOCHI, June 22. /TASS/. Russia has informed its South African partners that it would consider French President Emmanuel Macron’s attendance at the Johannesburg BRICS Summit in August as "inappropriate," Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told reporters on Thursday.

"We have sent a signal that, with all due respect to the prerogatives of [South Africa as] the host to invite individual guests, it is necessary to proceed from the fact that BRICS is an alliance of countries that categorically rejects the use of unilateral sanctions for resolving foreign policy issues. Given this, the presence of Western officials would clearly be inappropriate there," Ryabkov maintained, when asked to comment on Macron’s potential attendance by a TASS reporter.

South Africa currently holds the rotating BRICS presidency. The group’s summit is slated to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa’s largest city and business hub, on August 22-24.

Earlier, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said, following talks in Johannesburg with her South African counterpart, Naledi Pandor, that Macron would consider taking part in the BRICS summit should he be formally invited.

Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, in turn, that the Kremlin does not understand in what capacity the French leader might take part. "Frankly speaking, we don’t know in what capacity or why [Macron might attend the summit]; we don’t have such information at hand," he said.

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