Despite being one of the leaders of the BRICS bloc, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not physically attend the upcoming BRICS Summit this month. If the Russian President were to attend, South Africa would have been forced to arrest him in accordance with an ICC warrant.
With this ongoing issue, there may be issues in the future amongst the BRICS nations, specifically with expansion, according to The Kremlin. The Kremlin hints at possible disagreements over expansion with how fast the BRICS Bloc is growing.
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, South Africa has refrained from making any public statement about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. It’s not Putin’s first major scandal, but it also won’t be the last while he’s a member of BRICS.
Speaking to reporters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said:
“This is a very important topic because we see that more and more countries are making statements about their intention of joining BRICS. In general, such interest in the BRICS group shows the great potential of the association, its growing authority, and, most importantly, the practical importance of this association.”
Almost all of the BRICS nations have welcomed the idea of expansion. However, Russia has yet to publicly exclaim its support for the notion. This idea of expansion, along with BRICS Currency, will be one of the biggest discussions at the summit. A group consensus is important to allow these new nations to join BRICS. Explicit disagreements haven’t been drawn, but it is possible that this consensus amongst BRICS doesn’t exist yet.
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Putin’s legal woes and the war in Ukraine add another spanner and may spark more disagreements in BRICS. It will be interesting not just at the summit, but over the coming months, how the BRICS nations treat Russia and vice versa, as well as how Russia interacts with potential BRICS+ nations.