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BRICS rise driven by most countries' fatigue with Western diktat — Russian envoy

According to Alexey Labetsky, Western countries are attempting to divide BRICS, but the organization remains stable and united

BUENOS AIRES, October 3. /TASS/. BRICS is strengthening as most world nations are tired of the West's diktat seeking to impose its own neo-colonial vision on them, Russian Ambassador to Brazil Alexey Labetsky has said.

"The BRICS group has become an association that evokes not only political, but also economic and national interest, as the majority of the world's peoples and nations are tired of Western neocolonial diktat," the diplomat told the SBT Brasil TV channel.

According to Labetsky, Western countries are attempting to divide BRICS, but the organization remains stable and united. "BRICS is not intended to oppose anyone; its sole aim is to create conditions for the sustainable development of its member countries and their people," Labetsky explained. "We do not oppose the Europeans or the Americans: it is the Americans and Europeans who do not like structures where they cannot dictate their terms," he added.

The BRICS group has now gone through two waves of expansion since its inception in 2006. First, in 2011, South Africa joined founding members Brazil, Russia, India and China. Then, in August 2023, six new members, including Argentina, were invited to join BRICS after the intergovernmental group’s summit in Johannesburg. However, in December 2023, the new Argentinian government of President Javier Milei announced that it had declined the invitation for the time being because it considered integration with BRICS impractical. The five new members — Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates — began working as full-fledged BRICS member states since January 1.

Russia has assumed the rotating BRICS chairmanship on January 1, 2024. It will last until the end of the year and will include more than 200 events. The main event will be the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024.

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