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Russia won’t rush ahead to announce position on BRICS expansion — Kremlin

At the same time, Dmitry Peskov pointed out that the Russian side believes that "in one form or another, the BRICS expansion will contribute to the further development and strengthening of this organization

MOSCOW, August 3. /TASS/. The expansion of BRICS is a subject of discussion, Moscow does not consider it necessary to declare its position on the admission of certain new countries before all the states members of the association discuss the issue, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.

When asked to comment on Russia’s opinion about the possibility of Argentina, the UAE and Saudi Arabia being admitted to BRICS, the spokesman said: "This is a subject of discussion. We don't think it's necessary to get ahead of ourselves and announce our position before they [discussions] take place among BRICS member states. In any case, we are talking about countries with which we have quite constructive cooperation in various areas."

At the same time, Peskov pointed out that the Russian side believes that "in one form or another, the BRICS expansion will contribute to the further development and strengthening of this organization." "We will discuss in what form and to what extent only during the upcoming summit," he added.

Earlier, South Africa's BRICS Sherpa Anil Suklal said that about 30 countries are now interested in joining BRICS. Some of them have submitted formal applications, including Algeria, Bangladesh, Egypt and Ethiopia. The Indian newspaper Business Standard quoted its sources as saying that five countries could be admitted to BRICS at the summit in Johannesburg on August 22-24: Argentina, Egypt, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.

South Africa is presiding over the BRICS group this year. Russia will assume the rotating BRICS presidency in early 2024.

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Foreign policy Dmitry Peskov BRICS

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