MOSCOW, August 25. /TASS/. Inviting Western countries to join the BRICS group or take part in its activities is out of the realm of possibility, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov told a news conference in the wake of the BRICS summit in South Africa on Friday.

Ryabkov noted that the "most important criterion" for joining BRICS was "the non-application by a potential BRICS participant of illegal sanctions against any member of the association."

"All the countries who have been invited to join BRICS undoubtedly meet this requirement. As for Westerners, all of them as a group and each individual [Western] member pursue exactly the opposite line and thus inviting anyone from that group to join BRICS or even attend its events is out of the question. This is absolutely ruled out. And we will continue pursuing this course," Ryabkov added.

However, he said, if any Westerner suddenly finds joining BRICS an extremely attractive idea and "decides to stray <…> while refusing to use the sanctions policy" against any member of the [BRICS] grouping and applies to join, such an application will be considered. "There is no other way," Ryabkov warned.