Weeks after US President-elect Donald Trump threatened BRICS members with trade tariffs in an attempt to make them reconsider the idea of its own currency to rival US Dollar, Kremlin’s foreign policy advisor Yuri Ushakov was quoted saying that Saudi Arabia has frozen its bid to gain a full membership in the bloc, Russian news agency Interfax reports.
Previously in October, ahead of the BRICS Summit in Kazan, Russia, currently holds the presidency of the group, had to withdraw a statement that mentioned Saudi Arabia as a BRICS member.
“The summit will take place now, we will supply additional information on who will represent Saudi Arabia, whether it will be represented at this summit, and we will draw conclusions from this,” Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said in that occasion.
Invited to join BRICS in 2023, Saudi Arabia made it clear in several occasions it had not yet joined the bloc.
