NNA – Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov said on Thursday that Moscow does not think French President Emmanuel Macron should attend the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa due to Paris#39; quot;hostilequot; policy towards Russia.
quot;It is the host#39;s business to determine the circle of invitees, this is an established practice. But no less important is that this should be preceded by consultations of all BRICS participants,quot; Ryabkov stressed.
He added that leaders of countries that quot;pursue such a hostile and unacceptable policy,quot; want to isolate Moscow from the global community and are a part of NATO, which wants to quot;inflict a so-called strategic defeatquot; on Russia, would not be appropriate guests at a BRICS summit.
The comments come after French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said during a visit to Pretoria earlier this week that Macron wishes to become the first Western leader to attend the summit of the group that consists of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.–agenciesnbsp;
nbsp;
nbsp;
======================R.H.