Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks at the Kremlin in Moscow, on Oct. 8.Kristina Kormilitsyna/The Associated Press
Moscow is pushing for another expansion of the fast-growing BRICS group of countries at a summit in Russia this month, touting the organization as the emerging “global majority” at a time of Western decline.
Dozens of countries from four continents have reportedly submitted their membership applications for consideration at the summit – including, for the first time, a NATO member state: Turkey.
As many as 10 additional countries could be approved by the nine-member bloc at its annual summit in Kazan, Russia (Oct. 22 to 24), although the latest wave of newcomers might be classified as “partner countries” rather than full members.
The BRICS organization takes its name from an acronym for its earliest members: Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. While it has no policy-making powers or financial system, the group is united by its opposition to Western sanctions and its efforts to reduce the dominance of the U.S. dollar in global trade. It is seeking an international payments system that would allow its members to bypass sanction measures.
At its summit last year in Johannesburg, BRICS leaders invited six countries to join the group: Iran, Egypt, Ethiopia, Argentina, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. (Argentina later withdrew its application and Saudi Arabia is still mulling whether to accept the invitation, although it participates in BRICS events.)
Russia, which took the rotating leadership of BRICS this year, has used the organization to mobilize greater support from Asia, Africa and Latin America, countering the Western effort to isolate it on the global stage after it invaded Ukraine in 2022.
The BRICS countries now represent about 45 per cent of the world’s population and 35 per cent of its GDP, as measured on a purchasing power parity basis, if Saudi Arabia is included.
In an example of Russia’s strategy for exploiting the bloc, a steady parade of South African cabinet ministers has trekked to Moscow in recent weeks for a dizzying range of presummit events – including high-level meetings of BRICS ministers of energy, trade, communications and justice and even a fashion summit, leading to a 50-country agreement on a BRICS International Fashion Federation.
Beijing, meanwhile, has announced that Chinese leader Xi Jinping will attend the BRICS summit, a significant gesture of support. It will be his second visit to Russia since the invasion of Ukraine.
Moscow’s biggest political coup, however, was the announcement last month that Turkey is applying to join BRICS. The news was disclosed by Yuri Ushakov, a foreign policy aide to Russian President Vladimir Putin, although the Turkish government later confirmed that a “process is under way.”
The announcement was a key development because of Turkey’s long-standing membership in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Western military alliance. It signalled that Turkey wanted a closer relationship with Russia and China to balance its links with Europe and North America.
“One could well argue that a page has been turned in the transition toward a less Western world when the first NATO member, in this case Turkey, applied to join BRICS,” said Jorge Heine, an analyst at Boston University, in a recent commentary.
Russia has sounded triumphant as it touts the growing geopolitical popularity of BRICS. Mr. Ushakov, in an interview with Russian news agency TASS, boasted that the bloc has achieved “growing authority and influence” and is “creating a new world order.” The West, he said, is “outspokenly jealous about its expansion, as well as about the fact that the countries of the global majority would like to unite more closely for co-operation on the BRICS platform.”
Mr. Putin said in June that 34 countries have shown an interest in joining BRICS in one form or another. In addition to Turkey, they include countries such as Pakistan, Malaysia, Thailand, Nigeria, Cuba, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Venezuela, Bolivia, Syria, Kazakhstan and Bangladesh.
Western leaders have tended to dismiss or ignore the rise of BRICS, but the group has gained momentum from an anti-Western backlash to the Gaza conflict and U.S. support for Israel, experts say. “Europeans and Americans should stop rolling their eyes and yawning when they hear the word BRICS,” said Asli Aydintasbas, a policy researcher at the European Council on Foreign Relations, in an analysis published on the institute’s website.
The political agenda of the BRICS group is being “dominated by the authoritarian regimes,” she wrote. “On an ideological level, its members seem united in their belief that the West is steeped in hypocrisy, especially regarding Gaza, [and] has overstayed its welcome as the head of global power.”
The BRICS partnership has made it easier for officially non-aligned countries such as South Africa to forge closer military links to Moscow. At a navy festival in South Africa this month, two Russian naval vessels – including an anti-submarine warfare frigate – were the only foreign ships to participate.
The United States, meanwhile, was forced to withdraw from a major defence exhibition in Pretoria last month when South Africa failed to grant it a routine diplomatic privileges agreement.