The Kremlin on Tuesday rowed back from earlier comments describing Saudi Arabia as a member of the Brics group of countries, and left open the question of the kingdom being represented at a summit of the intergovernmental grouping in Russia next week.
Saudi Arabia has been invited to join Brics but hasn’t formally done so yet. Last week, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov described the kingdom as a member and said its foreign minister would attend the summit in the Russian city of Kazan.
Asked to clarify Saudi Arabia’s status in Brics, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: “The summit will take place now, we will supply additional information on who will represent Saudi Arabia, whether it will be represented at this summit, and we will draw conclusions from this.”
High-level Saudi involvement in the summit, which runs from October 22-24 would be a boost for Russia, which last week called on the group to work together to create new global financial institutions as an alternative to the IMF.
Brics, which originally comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and then SA, has expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, and the United Arab Emirates. Moscow sees the group’s development as an important part of its strategy to counter US influence and defeat Western attempts to isolate it with sanctions over the war in Ukraine.
“Russia is not isolated. In the modern world, it is very difficult to isolate any country, especially a state like the Russian Federation,” Peskov said.
Saudi Arabia is an important partner for Russia — the two countries co-operate closely in the Opec+ group of oil-producing countries.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has cultivated a warm personal relationship with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and visited him in Riyadh last December, declaring at the time that his country’s ties with the kingdom were at an “unprecedented level”.
Reuters
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