Expert: BRICS enlargement can be called a response to Finland’s NATO membership
The dramatic expansion of the BRICS group, which is to be joined soon by six countries, can be called a kind of response to the expansion of NATO through Finland’s entry into the defence alliance, said Andrei Maslov, director of the Centre for African Studies at the National Research University Higher School of Economics.
“We saw that Finland was admitted to NATO, but at the symbolic level, we can say that if they like to contrast BRICS with their institutions, then here is our response, in terms of level and scale, of course, not comparable to Finland,” he commented on the BRICS expansion at a press conference.
Comparing the association with the G7, the expert noted that even though the G7 never sought to expand, the US-controlled “Atlantic-centric” institutions have shown a desire for expansionism throughout their history.
“Now this expansionism has simply reached the maximum of its possibilities, they cannot expand further, although they would like to,” Maslov noted.
The next BRICS summit was held in Johannesburg on 22-24 August under the chairmanship of South Africa. During the summit, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced an official invitation to Argentina, Egypt, Iran, Ethiopia, UAE and Saudi Arabia to join BRICS. He said that full membership of the new countries that join BRICS will begin on 1 January 2024.
BRICS currently comprises Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, but recently 23 nations have expressed their desire to join the economic bloc, including six that have already received an invitation.
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