Russian President Vladimir Putin has been a strong proponent of the BRICS, the non-Western grouping that until 2023 consisted of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. 

In 2024, it expanded to include Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, and Indonesia 2025. Other countries in the “Global South” (or, as Russians often call it, the “Global Majority”) have applied to join and may well do so in the years ahead. 

Top-level Russian officials and some well-connected Russian commentators have generally viewed BRICS and BRICS expansion as highly useful for Russia. Putin, in particular, has portrayed BRICS as helpful in limiting American and Western hegemony. 

In October 2024, Putin stated, “It is clear that expanding the group was a positive and right decision. I am fully convinced that this will undoubtedly boost our influence and authority on the global stage, something we are already witnessing.” 

In January 2024, he called for “foreign policy coordination among the member countries,” enabling them to seek “effective responses to the challenges and threats to international and regional security and stability,” which Putin saw as emanating from the West. 

In April 2025, Sergei Shoigu, formerly the Russian defense minister and currently secretary of the Russian Security Council, optimistically expressed the “hope........

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