(Reuters) – Belarus applied in May to join the BRICS club of five leading developing economies, Russia’s RIA Novosti news agency reported on Tuesday.
“This decision was an absolutely logical step in the context of… expanding cooperation in multilateral formats with traditional partners and friendly states,” the Belarusian Foreign Ministry said, according to RIA.
The BRICS countries Brazil, India, China and South Africa have all declined to join Western economic sanctions against fellow member Russia over its war in Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation”. They are due to hold a summit in South Africa in August.
Belarus, a close ally of Moscow also subject to Western sanctions – for suppressing dissent and allowing Russia to use its territory as a platform for the invasion of Ukraine – said 25 states had already applied to join the BRICS club.
It said the BRICS members were discussing whether to set criteria for membership, or perhaps to establish a parallel forum of BRICS partner countries.
“The importance and influence of BRICS in the world will steadily increase,” the ministry was quoted as saying.
(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Kevin Liffey, Editing by Angus MacSwan)
