The European Union (EU) is openly indicating to Turkey that it needs to join anti-Russian sanctions if Ankara wishes to become a member of the union, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said in an interview with RBC, commenting on Turkey's intention to join BRICS.
“As for Turkey, the NATO members are silent. The Americans have said, I think, that this [intention to join BRICS—TASS note] is incompatible with NATO membership. A representative of the European Commission was much more frank. He said that Turkey should realize that moving toward the EU is incompatible with BRICS membership and vice versa. EU candidates should join a common foreign and security policy. This is a blatant indication to join anti-Russian sanctions if Turkey wants to become a member of the EU,” the minister said.
The foreign minister also pointed out that at last year's BRICS summit in Johannesburg, a decision was made to instruct foreign ministers and experts to prepare recommendations on the criteria for a new category of participants invited to BRICS events— ”partner countries.”
“Active work is now underway on this. Such recommendations should be presented at the BRICS summit in Kazan in October. We feel the need to streamline relations between BRICS members and countries that are showing growing interest in working with this association. There are already more than 30 such countries. This is a real reflection of multipolarity,” Lavrov concluded.
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Photo: Russian Foreign Ministry
Based on TASS materials