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‘BRICS Countries Refused to Participate in Global Summit on Peace in Ukraine’. Fact-checking False Claim of Dean of Belarus State University
The list of participants includes Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa.
The BRICS countries demonstratively refused to participate in the Global Peace Summit on Ukraine, which took place on June 15–16, 2024, in Switzerland. That's the claim made by the Dean of the Faculty of Journalism at BSU, Alexey Belyaev. The Weekly Top Fake team fact-checked his statement.
The Global Peace Summit on Ukraine attracted delegates from a massive 92 nations across the globe. Notably, Russia was not invited to the event. This absence was discussed on the air of Alpha Radio on June 18, 2024, with Dean Belyaev claiming that the Summit had failed and that none of the BRICS nations participated:
“The representatives of the BRICS countries did not come, they refused to participate demonstratively. Representatives of major international organizations also did not arrive, for example, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres did not come, and the Pope did not come either.”
According to the official BRICS website, the organization consists of ten nations, namely the five originals: Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (the first letters of the names of these countries form the abbreviation). And five newer members: Egypt, Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia. However, the latter's officials are still considering its membership, saying they need to think about whether to join BRICS.
Did the BRICS countries actually fail to attend the summit in Switzerland? The list of participants includes Brazil, India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and South Africa. These countries were represented not by the highest officials but by officials of lower rank. Brazil acted as an observer.
Thus, the forum was attended by three out of five main members of BRICS and two new ones. That's half of the BRICS alliance in attendance.
Additionally, Dean Belyaev's claim about the absence of international organizations is also misleading. While the Pope and UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres didn't attend, the Vatican sent an observer, and the UN was represented by the Deputy Secretary-General.
