JOHANNESBURG, July 24. /TASS/. All sovereign countries have an interest in shutting down the United States’ diktat and Washington’s attempts to impose its ways on the rest of the world, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev said on Monday.

According to him, today the world is steadily moving toward a more equitable multipolar system. "Unfortunately, this objective trend is categorically rejected by the Western minority, which does not hesitate to use any means - from unilateral sanctions to waging hybrid wars - in an attempt to preserve its hegemonic global position," Patrushev said at a meeting of top security officials from the BRICS countries in South Africa.

In particular, he pointed out that the "global minority" is trying to replace the UN-centric system and world order, "that is, the system [supported by the] majority [of nations]," with some sort of "rules-based order."

"We are convinced that it is in the interests of all sovereign states to thwart the Americans’ attempts to dictate [to other nations] and impose their approaches on others," the top security official stressed. He added that, in the contemporary political and economic architecture of the world, "there is a growing demand for increased representation of countries in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East that pursue an independent foreign policy and are ready to defend national interests and their sovereignty in the institutions of global governance."

South Africa is presiding over the BRICS group this year. The meeting marked the 13th such gathering of senior security officials from the BRICS countries. The first one was held in 2009 at Moscow’s initiative. The recommendations of the current meeting will be submitted to the BRICS Summit of Heads of State and Government to be held in Johannesburg on August 22-24. Russia will assume the rotating BRICS presidency in early 2024.