The BRICS alliance has extended the red carpet welcoming like-minded NATO countries to join the alliance. The development could lead to a paradigm shift in the global financial sector if Western nations join the bloc. The tug-of-war between developing countries and developed Western nations has gone full throttle after the bloc kick-started the de-dollarization agenda.

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The White House pressed sanctions on Russia in 2022 for invading Ukraine. However, Russia bypassed the sanctions by selling crude oil at discounted prices to BRICS members since then. Even Saudi Arabia purchased Russian oil from the BRICS member at cheaper rates and laundered it all over Europe, who are mostly NATO members.

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NATO Members Can Join BRICS, Says Diplomat

Russian spokesman Dmitry Peskov took a jibe at the West for not allowing member countries to join other alliances. Peskov highlighted that NATO members put up a condition saying that ‘you’re either with us or against us.’ Such conditions are not in BRICS and any country is free to apply for membership, including NATO members, he said.

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The spokesperson made it clear that BRICS will not place any obstacles like how the West and NATO do regarding memberships. The ‘either with us or against us’ policy is not with BRICS, he said. “These are the conditions that they like setting in NATO, in the EU: either you’re with the EU or with Russia, either you’re in BRICS or NATO. But in BRICS, no one says such things, and this makes the organization even more attractive,” he said.

With this statement, the spokesperson hinted that NATO members are free to apply for a BRICS membership if they wish to. Just like how the US is the backbone of NATO, Peskov said that BRICS has no such thing. He stated that all countries are treated equally and all nations’ aspirations are taken care of. “There is no country that claims to be the backbone of the organization,” Peskov summed it up.