In a conversation with TASS, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov was asked whether the BRICS can somehow safeguard commercial ships, in light of the growing wave of international piracy targeting Russia’s “ghost fleet,” Venezuela tankers, etc.
“This is not the task that we have set for ourselves,” stated Ryabkov, who is the Russian sherpa in charge of the BRICS . “This security needs to be ensured by other means,” he added. “I would like to remind you that BRICS is not a military union and not a collective security organization with collective defense commitments. It has never been planned as such, and there are no plans to transform it for the purpose.”
He added: “As far as the recent naval exercise in South Africa is concerned, BRICS members participated in it as sovereign nations. It was not a BRICS event.”
