BRICS Leaders Meet in South Africa as Bloc Weighs Expansion 

A person walks past the Sandton Convention Center, which will host the upcoming BRICS Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa August 19, 2023. (Reuters)
A person walks past the Sandton Convention Center, which will host the upcoming BRICS Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa August 19, 2023. (Reuters)
TT
20

BRICS Leaders Meet in South Africa as Bloc Weighs Expansion 

A person walks past the Sandton Convention Center, which will host the upcoming BRICS Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa August 19, 2023. (Reuters)
A person walks past the Sandton Convention Center, which will host the upcoming BRICS Summit, in Johannesburg, South Africa August 19, 2023. (Reuters)

Leaders of the BRICS nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - are due to open a summit in Johannesburg on Tuesday where they will weigh expanding membership as some members push to forge the bloc into a counterweight to the West.

Heightened global tensions provoked by the Ukraine war and a growing rivalry between China and the United States have added urgency to a drive to strengthen the bloc, which has at times suffered from internal divisions and a lack of coherent vision.

"An expanded BRICS will represent a diverse group of nations with different political systems that share a common desire to have a more balanced global order," South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said in an address ahead of the meetings.

Boosting the use of member states' local currencies is also on the agenda. South African summit organizers, however, say there will be no discussions of a BRICS currency, an idea floated by Brazil earlier this year as an alternative to dollar-dependence.

Ramaphosa will host Chinese President Xi Jinping, Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi from Aug. 22 to 24.

Russian President Vladimir Putin, wanted under an international arrest warrant for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not travel to South Africa and instead join virtually.

Expansion has long been a goal of bloc heavyweight China, which hopes that broader membership will lend clout to a grouping already home to some 40% of the world's population and a quarter of global GDP.

The leaders will hold a mini-retreat and dinner on Tuesday evening where they are likely to discuss a framework and criteria for admitting new countries.

But expansion has become a point of contention.

Russia is keen to bring in new members to counter its diplomatic isolation over its invasion of Ukraine. South Africa has also voiced support.

India, which is wary of Chinese dominance and has warned against rushing expansion, has "positive intent and an open mind", Foreign Secretary Vinay Kwatra said on Monday. Brazil, meanwhile, is concerned that growing BRICS will dilute its influence.

While a potential BRICS enlargement remains up in the air, the bloc's pledge to become a champion of the developing "Global South" and offer an alternative to a world order dominated by wealthy Western nations is already finding resonance.

Over 40 countries have expressed interest in joining BRICS, say South African officials. Of them, nearly two dozen have formally asked to be admitted.



UN Rejects US Resolution Urging an End to the War in Ukraine without Noting Russian Aggression

Ambassadors vote on a resolution to reaffirm Ukraine's territorial integrity, during a United Nations General Assembly meeting on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 24, 2025. (AFP)
Ambassadors vote on a resolution to reaffirm Ukraine's territorial integrity, during a United Nations General Assembly meeting on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 24, 2025. (AFP)
TT
20

UN Rejects US Resolution Urging an End to the War in Ukraine without Noting Russian Aggression

Ambassadors vote on a resolution to reaffirm Ukraine's territorial integrity, during a United Nations General Assembly meeting on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 24, 2025. (AFP)
Ambassadors vote on a resolution to reaffirm Ukraine's territorial integrity, during a United Nations General Assembly meeting on the third anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, at UN Headquarters in New York City on February 24, 2025. (AFP)

In a win for Ukraine on the third anniversary of Russia’s invasion, the United States on Monday failed to get the UN General Assembly to approve its resolution urging an end to the war without mentioning Moscow's aggression. And the assembly approved a dueling European-backed Ukrainian resolution demanding Russia immediately withdraw from Ukraine.

It marks a setback for the Trump administration in the 193-member world body, whose resolutions are not legally binding but are seen as a barometer of world opinion. But it also shows some diminished support for Ukraine, whose resolution passed 93-18, with 65 abstentions. That’s lower than previous votes, which saw over 140 nations condemn Russia’s aggression.

The United States had tried to pressure the Ukrainians to withdraw their resolution in favor of its proposal, according to a US official and a European diplomat who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the talks were private. They refused, and then the assembly added language to the US proposal making clear that Russia invaded its smaller neighbor in violation of the UN Charter.

The vote on the amended US resolution was 93-8 with 73 abstentions, with Ukraine voting “yes,” the US abstaining and Russia voting “no.”

Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Mariana Betsa said her country is exercising its “inherent right to self-defense” following Russia’s invasion, which violates the UN Charter’s requirement that countries respect the sovereignty and territorial integrity of other nations.

“As we mark three years of this devastation — Russia’s full invasion against Ukraine — we call on all nations to stand firm and to take ... the side of the Charter, the side of humanity and the side of just and lasting peace, peace through strength,” she said.

US deputy ambassador Dorothy Shea, meanwhile, said multiple previous UN resolutions condemning Russia and demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops “have failed to stop the war,” which “has now dragged on for far too long and at far too terrible a cost to the people in Ukraine and Russia and beyond.”

“What we need is a resolution marking the commitment from all UN member states to bring a durable end to the war,” Shea said.

The dueling proposals reflect the tensions that have emerged between the US and Ukraine after President Donald Trump suddenly opened negotiations with Russia in a bid to quickly resolve the conflict. It also underscores the strain in the transatlantic alliance with Europe over the Trump administration’s extraordinary turnaround on engagement with Moscow. European leaders were dismayed that they and Ukraine were left out of preliminary talks last week.

In escalating rhetoric, Trump has called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator," falsely accused Kyiv of starting the war and warned that he “better move fast” to negotiate an end to the conflict or risk not having a nation to lead. Zelenskyy responded by saying Trump was living in a Russian-made “disinformation space.”

Since then, the Trump administration not only declined to endorse Ukraine's UN resolution, but at the last minute proposed its own competing resolution and pressed its allies to support that version instead. It comes as Trump plans to host French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday in Washington.

The US also wanted a vote on its proposal in the more powerful UN Security Council. China, which holds the council presidency this month, has scheduled it for Monday afternoon.

The General Assembly has become the most important UN body on Ukraine because the 15-member Security Council, which is charged with maintaining international peace and security, has been paralyzed by Russia’s veto power.

There are no vetoes in the assembly, and the Ukraine resolution, which is co-sponsored by all 27 members of the European Union, is almost certain to be adopted. Its votes are closely watched as a barometer of world opinion, but the resolutions passed there are not legally binding, unlike those adopted by the Security Council.

Since Russia forces stormed across the border on Feb. 24, 2022, the General Assembly has approved half a dozen resolutions that have condemned Moscow’s invasion and demanded the immediate pullout of Russian troops.

The votes on the rival resolutions — which have sparked intense lobbying and arm-twisting, one European diplomat said — will be closely watched to see if that support has waned and to assess the backing for Trump’s effort to negotiate an end to the fighting.

The very brief US draft resolution acknowledges “the tragic loss of life throughout the Russia-Ukraine conflict” and “implores a swift end to the conflict and further urges a lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.” It never mentions Moscow’s invasion.

Russia’s UN ambassador, Vassily Nebenzia, told reporters last week that the US resolution was “a good move.”

The Ukraine's resolution, meanwhile, refers to “the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation” and recalls the need to implement all previous assembly resolutions “adopted in response to the aggression against Ukraine.”

It singles out the assembly’s demand that Russia “immediately, completely and unconditionally withdraw all of its military forces from the territory of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders.”

It stresses that any involvement of North Korean troops fighting alongside Russia’s forces “raises serious concerns regarding further escalation of this conflict.”

The resolution reaffirms the assembly’s commitment to Ukraine’s sovereignty and also "that no territorial acquisition resulting from the threat or use of force shall be recognized as legal.”

It calls for “a de-escalation, an early cessation of hostilities and a peaceful resolution of the war against Ukraine” and it reiterates “the urgent need to end the war this year.”