French President Emmanuel Macron would be an inappropriate guest at the next BRICS summit, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov said on Thursday, launching new criticism of countries Russia considers hostile to it, Reuters reported.
Responding to a question about Macron’s desire to participate in the BRICS summit in South Africa in August, Ryabkov said:
“It is obvious that the leaders of the states who follow such a hostile and unacceptable policy towards us, who discuss with such emphasis and conviction that Russia should be isolated on the international arena, and who share the NATO line on the task of our strategic defeat, are such a leader. would be an inappropriate guest at BRICS.”
“And we do not hide our approach, we talked about it to our colleagues in South Africa. We expect that our point of view will be accepted in full,” Deputy Serhiy Lavrova also said.
His comments came after French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonnade told a news conference in South Africa earlier this week during an official visit that Emmanuel Macron would like to be invited to the BRICS summit in August.
How Emmanuel Macron invited himself to the BRICS summit
“It’s always positive to have a dialogue, even if we don’t always agree 100% on all issues,” French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said at a press conference she held in Pretoria, where she met with his South African counterpart, Nalendi. Pandor, RFI reports.
The BRICS summit, an organization that includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will be hosted by the African country on August 22-24 in Johannesburg.
BRICS summits are usually attended by the leaders of the participating countries, but sometimes other heads of state of non-bloc countries are also invited.
Speaking at the same press conference held by Catherine Colonna, South Africa’s foreign minister said an invitation to Macron to the BRICS summit was not out of the question, but that the final decision rested with President Cyril Ramaphosa, who would chair the meeting as BRICS chief. state of the host country.
“If this were to happen, it would be an innovation within the current model of BRICS participation, but it could expand the global reach of the BRICS forum,” said Nalendi Pandor. A decision on the matter could be made this week as Macron and Ramaphosa meet in Paris for an international finance summit.
The Russian president is unlikely to be arrested in South Africa
This year’s meeting attracted the attention of the world public after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March.
As a member of the court of justice, South Africa would have to arrest the Russian president if he entered its territory, but South African political leaders have contradicted themselves in their statements on the subject. The Kremlin also hesitated to respond to Putin’s participation in the summit, saying that a decision would be made as it approached.
If French diplomacy receives an invitation for Emmanuel Macron, he will become the first Western head of state to attend the BRICS summit.
If Vladimir Putin also decides to go to South Africa, Macron could also become the first leader of a Western country to meet a Russian president since the start of a “special military operation” against Ukraine last year.
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Source: Hot News
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