MOSCOW, July 17. /TASS/. Venezuela is interested in the BRICS format, Russian Ambassador to Venezuela Sergey Melik-Bagdasarov told TASS.

"Venezuela is interested, same as many other countries, in this format," he said when asked about the country’s possibly joining the organization.

BRICS is an informal interstate organization consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. According to Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov, the number of countries willing to join BRICS is nearing 20.