On Tuesday, Russia retracted previous statements that presented Saudi Arabia as a member of the BRICS group and did not clarify whether and at what level this country would participate in the BRICS summit hosted by the Russian city of Kazan next week, according to agencies Reuters and EFE, as reported by Agerpres..
Saudi Arabia has been invited to join BRICS but has not yet formally become a member of the group.However, last week, Yuri Ushakov, the foreign policy advisor to Russian President Vladimir Putin, described Saudi Arabia as a member of BRICS and stated that its foreign minister would attend the summit.
When asked on Tuesday to clarify Saudi Arabia’s status within the BRICS group, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov responded, ‘The summit will take place, and we will provide further information regarding who will represent Saudi Arabia, if it is represented at this summit, and we will draw conclusions from that.’.
A potential substantial involvement of Saudi Arabia, a major oil-producing country with a significant role in Middle Eastern geopolitics and courted by the U.S., at the BRICS summit would represent a diplomatic victory for Russia, which sees BRICS as a pillar of a new world order to counterbalance U.S.dominance in global politics.In this context, Russia urged its BRICS partners last week to collaborate on creating new international financial institutions as an alternative to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
Who is coming to the BRICS summit in Russia
Initially composed of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—which together form the acronym BRICS—this group expanded this year to include four additional members: Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Iran.Recently, several countries, including Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Cuba, have publicly expressed their intention to join this group, with around 30 states reportedly interested in becoming members, according to various officials.
Invitations to participate in the summit from October 22 to 24 have been sent to 38 countries.Of these, 32 had confirmed their participation by last week, with 24 expected to be represented by their leaders, as stated by advisor Yuri Ushakov to the press at that time.
Putin is scheduled to hold bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the summit with approximately 20 of his foreign counterparts.Among the leaders expected at the BRICS summit are Chinese President Xi Jinping, Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, a staunch ally of Moscow.The President of the New Development Bank, former Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, will also be in attendance.