BUENOS AIRES, October 14. /TASS/. Western countries will try to contain the strengthening of BRICS in international relations by launching hybrid wars and conflicts, Argentina’s Pagina12 news outlet reported.

According to its columnist, Jorge Elbaum, BRICS will continue to strengthen and "challenge the West." In turn, Western countries will try to overcome their own decline "with the help of cognitive, hybrid and proxy wars."

The expert pointed out that unlike the West, which promotes unilateral sanctions and political and economic interference in the affairs of other countries, BRICS respects the sovereignty of all states. According to the columnist, the members of the organization, together with their partners in the expanded BRICS Plus format, offer an alternative model of global governance "in the face of NATO militarization, technological warfare against China and conflict in the Middle East."

In early October, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov opined that there would be attempts to dissuade leaders from attending the BRICS summit to be held in Kazan on October 22-24. According to him, all countries are interested in Russia's proposed model of relations based on equality. Earlier, Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira also pointed to an increase in the number of countries that want to join BRICS. According to the top diplomat, about 30 countries want to join the association at some point.

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 250 events. The main event will be the BRICS Summit in Kazan in October 2024.