2023-06-22 22:06:25
Moscow considers the French president an inappropriate guest at the BRICS summit in South Africa, this position was transferred to the host, declared on Thursday, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov.
During a recent visit to South Africa, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna statedthat Macron is waiting for an invitation from the President of South Africa to the BRICS summit, which will be held on August 22-24. To which the head of the South African Foreign Ministry, Naledi Pandor, reacted in streamlined terms. She did not rule out that such an invitation to Macron would still be sent, but, they say, the last word belongs to the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa. “If this happened, it would be an innovation within the current model of participation in the BRICS, but it might expand the global reach of the BRICS forum,” Pandor said.
Ramaphosa will have the opportunity to discuss all this with Macron personally during the upcoming “Summit for a New Global Financial Pact” in Paris. Macron was one of the main inspirers of this event, which is intended to symbolize the intensification of dialogue between the countries of the “Global North” and the “Global South”. As you know, at the last summit of the G7 there was a lot of talk regarding establishing such a dialogue. One of its goals should be to strengthen the international isolation of Russia and the destruction of its ties with the countries of the “Global South”, which for the most part are neutral or even benevolent towards Russia once morest the backdrop of the military conflict in Ukraine.
The very idea that BRICS should not close in on itself, but expand external ties, is not new. For the first time, the corresponding concept of creating the BRICS Plus format was formulated hosts of the summit in China in 2017. Even then, Chinese diplomats discussed in Brussels the possibility of a representative of the European Union or its individual members to take part, among other things, in the BRICS summits.
Then Beijing invited the five leaders of Egypt, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea, Thailand and Tajikistan, as well as the president of the African Union, to participate in the summit. So far, China has not reacted to Macron’s current initiative, however, it can be assumed that the Chinese will not object to his presence in South Africa in the same harsh terms as Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov spoke out. Since this will directly contradict the concept of creating the BRICS Plus format, which they also expressed earlier.
Ryabkov’s statement really sounded harsh. In particular, he said: “The host decides who to accept, in what format. But it is no less important that the invitation should be preceded by consultations among all BRICS participants.” But does this mean that Moscow has a right of veto in this case? Moreover, it is clear that if Macron arrives at the summit, he will try to completely redraw his agenda, trying to achieve condemnation of Russian actions once morest Ukraine.
This becomes yet another diplomatic issue for Moscow, on top of the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant for the Russian president, which has yet to be finalized with the South African authorities so that Putin can travel to South Africa in person.
Recently French President and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz almost simultaneously spoke with statements that they would like to maintain a dialogue with Russia, including at the highest level. What did the press secretary of the Russian president Dmitry Peskov reactedthat no proposals have been received from European politicians in this regard, although Putin is ready for any contacts to discuss options for solving the Ukrainian problem.
Macron for the last time said at the end of May regarding the importance of dialogue with the Russian authorities to resolve this conflict, emphasizing the need to build relations with Moscow on the most peaceful terms. True, literally a day later he declaredthat he does not yet have topics for a useful conversation with Putin. Well, if not, then there is nothing to talk regarding in the same Johannesburg.
Now, however, if Pretoria does not heed Moscow’s actual demands, the Kremlin will face yet another problem. How to respond if other BRICS countries, not only South Africa, but also China and India, support the idea of expanding the organization’s international contacts, including in the format of participation of other world leaders in its events? Usually in diplomacy it is customary to make harsh statements, firstly, when further own actions have already been calculated in case of different answers, and secondly, if there is a fairly high confidence that your requirements will be heeded.
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