MOSCOW, October 10. /TASS/. Russian Presidential Aide Yury Ushakov has revealed why BRICS chose not to change its name after its expansion.

While talking with reporters, the Kremlin aide pointed out that in 2006, the group consisted of India, China and Russia, which were later joined by Brazil and the fifth member, South Africa. "This is when the letter ‘S’ was added to the BRIC acronym. Since then, the world has come to know the organization as BRICS," Ushankov said.

"It has been decided to keep the name even though the number of member states has increased from five to ten. The reason is clear: had an attempt been made to include the first letters of all the ten countries’ names, it wouldn’t have created a new acronym but just some kind of gobbledygook," the Kremlin aide explained. "The name BRICS is recognizable and, in our view, quite logical," he concluded.

Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates became full-fledged BRICS members on January 1, 2024.