BRICS has never been and does not intend to become military union. Cooperation between the parties of the association is not directed against anyone.
This is stated in a message from the Russian Foreign Ministry, quoted by TASS.
The comment was made in response to Roger Boyce's article in The Times - "BRICS expansion should worry NATO". In it, Boyce presents BRICS as an almost military alliance.
"BRICS has never been, is not and does not intend to become a military union. Moreover, BRICS is not even an international organization or an integration structure, but an interstate association of equal participants. It is a multidisciplinary strategic partnership based on three key pillars - politics and security, economy and finance, culture and humanitarian relations. The relations between the BRICS partners are built on the basis of equality and mutual respect, the principles of openness, pragmatism, solidarity and, most importantly in this case, are not directed. against anyone", emphasized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The Russian Foreign Ministry recalled that one of the main tasks of BRICS is the creation of a fair and multilateral world economic system.
"Since its inception, BRICS has advocated peaceful methods of resolving international disputes and strengthening multilateralism in solving global problems and respect for the sovereignty of states contributes to the expansion of BRICS strengthening the role of developing countries in international affairs , which results from the objective changes in the global economy", they add from there.
"Even theoretically putting the BRICS on an equal footing with the aggressive military bloc NATO, which during the long decades of its existence has been marked only by bloody invasions and undermining of security in various regions of the planet, is simply absurd documents of the North Atlantic Alliance that there clearly defined "adversaries", namely NATO is conducting increasingly large-scale exercises both on Russia's borders and in the Asia-Pacific region. NATO is supplying increasingly lethal weapons and intelligence to a puppet neo-Nazi regime in Kiev that is massacring Ukrainians and cooperating with international terrorist organizations, the Foreign Office insists.
The Russian Foreign Ministry noted that NATO is a "withered relic of the Cold War, which has long lost the meaning of its existence", while BRICS is "creating, helping to develop, mutually enriching civilizations, respecting the interests of all countries in the interest of building a truly just world order.
Russia took over the one-year rotating presidency of the BRICS on January 1 this year. It includes more than 200 events on a wide range of issues. The main highlight of the Russian presidency will be the BRICS summit, which will be held in Kazan on October 22-24.
Russia has invited UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to attend the upcoming meeting.
The UN expects that important agreements will be reached at the summit and that it will "provide the necessary impetus to ensure that all 17 goals set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development are met. and make life on the planet more prosperous and safe".
Cuba has officially requested to join BRICS by sending a letter to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Azerbaijan confirmed it is also pushing for membership after a meeting between Putin and Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev.
BRICS membership is by invitation, with several countries receiving one earlier this year, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates. Argentina was also invited but declined to join.
BRICS, originally formed by Brazil, Russia, India and China, has expanded in recent years with the addition of South Africa, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
Russia has previously emphasized the importance of the structure, noting that the BRICS countries account for 45% of the world's population, produce about 40% of the world's oil and provide roughly a quarter of global merchandise exports.