(21 Aug 2023)
FOR CLEAN VERSION SEE STORY NUMBER: 4449827
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa - 15 August 2023
1. BRICS Summit banners and signage
HEADLINE: BRICS economic bloc to meet in South Africa
2. Various of BRICS Summit banners and signage outside Sandton Convention Centre
ANNOTATION: Russia and China will look to gain more political and economic ground in the developing world at a summit in South Africa this week.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richmond, Johannesburg, South Africa - 18 August 2023
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Philani Mthembu, Institute for Global Dialogue executive director:
"Because of the current conditions, BRICS has actually become even more important for Russia."
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ARCHIVE: Brasilia, Brazil - 14 November 2019
4. STILL: (Left to right) South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa, China's President Xi Jinping, India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Russia's President Vladimir Putin and then-Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro pose for a photo at the BRICS emerging economies at the Itamaraty palace in Brasilia
ANNOTATION: Russian President Vladimir Putin, seen here attending the 2019 summit, will appear by video link this year.
ANNOTATION: He is constrained by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant that threatens his travel to South Africa.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Richmond, Johannesburg, South Africa - 18 August 2023
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Philani Mthembu, Institute for Global Dialogue executive director:
“You can rest assured that the decisions that (Sergey) Lavrov would actually agree to are decisions that have actually the blessing of President (Vladimir) Putin.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Sandton, Johannesburg, South Africa - 15 August 2023
6. Various of BRICS Summit banners and signage on street
ANNOTATION: The main summit is on Wednesday and is expected to produce general declarations of more cooperation among countries in the Global South.
ANNOTATION: The BRICS bloc includes Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
STORYLINE:
Russia and China will look to gain more political and economic ground in the developing world at a summit in South Africa this week, when a likely dose of joint anti-West grumbling from Moscow and Beijing may take on a sharper edge with a formal move to bring Saudi Arabia closer.
Leaders from the BRICS economic bloc of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will hold three days of meetings in Johannesburg, with Chinese President Xi Jinping attending to underline the diplomatic capital his country has invested in the bloc over the last decade-and-a-bit as a useful avenue for its ambitions.
The main summit on Wednesday - and sideline meetings Tuesday and Thursday - will produce general declarations of more cooperation among countries in the Global South amid rising discontent over perceived Western dominance of global affairs.
That's an overriding sentiment that Russia and China are more than happy to lean into.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will appear by video link, constrained by an International Criminal Court arrest warrant that complicated his travel to South Africa.
Putin will still have “full-fledged participation” in Wednesday's main BRICS summit session, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
“In this current geopolitical landscape where the West is seeking to isolate Russia, it's become very important for Russia to expand its linkages with the BRICS countries,” said Philani Mthembu, the executive director of Pretoria-based think thank the Institute for Global Dialogue.
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