What happened when the BRICS countries suddenly closed the door to expansion? Russia would rather sacrifice its interests in the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield than export gas for China!
According to Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, the BRICS countries unanimously agreed to suspend the admission of new members with an overwhelming vote, which shows that Turkey's intention to join the BRICS has failed. I have to say that this is a rather strange thing.
In recent years, the BRICS countries have reached a consensus on the expansion of the BRICS, and successfully absorbed many countries, including Saudi Arabia, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Iran and Ethiopia to join, and in the BRICS expansion, Russia, as the rotating presidency this year, is the most active, because of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia's economic and trade cooperation with the United States and the West is almost ruined, and a larger platform is urgently needed to play, and out of the need for "de-dollarization", Russia is also keen to further strengthen the BRICS, which is currently the most comparable to the G7. Therefore, from Russia's point of view, being able to accept Turkey, which straddles Europe and Asia and is close to the Middle East, is tantamount to a tiger with wings.
Moreover, from the standpoint of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Turkey is one of the few member states in the entire NATO that has not helped the United States and the West against Russia, and Turkish President Erdogan has also helped mediate Russia and Ukraine many times. Therefore, it seems that it is also a certain "necessity" for Russia to absorb Turkey without looking at the BRICS, but simply looking at the needs of the Russian-Ukrainian battlefield.
Based on the above reasons, it is not difficult for us to find that it is somewhat strange for Russia to nod and close the BRICS door to Turkey. The Russian side explained that the BRICS countries need to focus on integrating the most recently joined member states.
This explanation is very powerful, before the expansion of the BRICS was only five countries, and now the membership has doubled, not just to sign a document, but to establish a set of cooperation frameworks between the ten countries, which will take time and corresponding political, diplomatic and economic resources to promote, and is by no means something that can be achieved overnight. If Russia wants to strengthen the BRICS, it must also maintain enough patience, so there are enough reasons for the BRICS countries to temporarily stop expanding and integrate themselves first.
In addition to this, there are three other reasons, which may also be important factors in Putin's refusal to allow Turkey to join the BRICS.
First, Turkey is a member of NATO. Although the BRICS is not a defense alliance, it is still more inclined to economic cooperation, even if there are China and Russia, which are regarded as thorns in the side of the United States and the West, there is no conflict with NATO, objectively speaking, it is "feasible" for NATO members to join the BRICS. But this is only objective, subjective factors show that this is not easy to achieve at the moment, because the pillar of NATO, the United States, hates most at the moment is the BRICS countries that are expected to completely break the dominant economic position of the G7, not to mention that Russia is promoting "de-dollarization" through the BRICS. At this time, there are NATO countries to join, and it is indeed easy to influence Russia's strategy.
Second, Turkey is too keen to meddle in international affairs, and its image is not particularly good, even the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are inevitably targeted by Turkey.
Third, the United States and the West are now imposing unreasonable tariffs on China, the trade conflict has begun, and China is being sanctioned. At the same time, according to recent news, Turkey is planning to follow the example of the United States and the European Union and impose unreasonable tariffs on China's electric vehicles, China is Russia's most important diplomatic partner at the moment, and it is also the mainstay of the BRICS, and this unilateral sanction of China is certainly not advisable. As early as mid-June, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov said that any country that wants to join the BRICS cannot illegally unilaterally sanction other countries, so Turkey's behavior will inevitably arouse Russia's disgust, so in this regard, the Putin government chose a side and did not support Turkey.
What's more, although Turkey has helped Russia a little, the two sides are not without disputes, so even if Turkey has provided some help to Russia in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict, Turkey's malicious targeting of China, coupled with its NATO membership, constitutes a sufficient basis for Russia and even the entire BRICS countries to choose to close the door to Turkey.