Direct endorsement of China and Russia, members of the Council, to Brazilians and Indians does not mean that there will be some practical effect
The final statement of the 2025 BRICS summit, held in Rio, resumes explicit support from Russia and China, members of the UN Security Council (United Nations), at the entrance of Brazil and India in the group. This endorsement appeared in the block texts in 2022 and 2023, but was replaced by more indirect version in 2024, after the Kazan summit in Russia.
“Recalling the statements of Beijing leaders, 2022, and Johannesburg II, 2023, China and Russia, as permanent members of the United Nations Security Council, reiterate their support for the aspirations of Brazil and India to play a more relevant role in the United Nations, including their Security Council.”says the text agreed in the capital of Rio de Janeiro.
Brazil – and countries that are not part of the Security Council – advocate a reform of the agency. The argument is that it is necessary to have more representativeness of regions that have developed in recent decades, becoming important to geopolitics.
“We reaffirm our support for a comprehensive reform of the United Nations, including its security council, with the aim of making it more democratic, representative, effective and efficient, and to increase the representation of developing countries in the board members so that it can respond adequately to the prevailing global challenges and support the legitimate aspirations of emerging countries and in the development of Africa, Asia and Latin America, including BRICS countries, playing a larger role in international affairs, particularly in the United Nations, including their Security Council ”.
In 2024, when the summit was in Russia, the text was less emphatic about support for changes in the security council, leaving out quotes to Brazil and India. Read the 2024 (PDF – 1 MB).
Although diplomacy consider a victory when there is a semantic change in international statements, it does not mean that there will be some practical effect. Nothing indicates that Brazil and India are closer to entering the UN Security Council this year than they were in 2024.
River statement
The final statement of the BRICS leaders summit, released on Sunday (6.Jul.2025), makes a gesture to Iran by condemning recent attacks on the Persian country, but makes no mention of the United States and Israel, perpetrators of the bombing. It also preserves Russia, a member of the bloc, when mentioning the conflict in Ukraine. Read A (PDF – 269 KB).
The document quotes Israel 7 times, but in excerpts related to conflicts in the Gaza Strip, Syria and Lebanon. During negotiations between the bloc -members of the bloc last week, the Iranians charged a harder position with the support of China and Russia. The Persian country joined the block in 2023. Tehran does not recognize the state of Israel and usually uses expressions as “Zionist regime” to refer to the Jewish country.
The statement of the statement, however, faced resistance from countries closer to the United States, such as India, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Ethiopia and Egypt. This group wanted to prevent the block, already aligned with China, had a more anti-western or anti-Trump character.
On June 24, BRICS issued a joint statement in which attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities, also without directing directly United States or Israel. At the time, the text was hours after the announcement of a ceasefire between Iran and Israel. This document served as the basis for the statement published on Sunday. The Iranians tried to include in the document mentions to the 2 countries.
In the final statement, the BRICS countries say they express “Deep concern” With the escalation of the security situation in the Middle East, especially in relation to the nuclear issue.
The BRICS summit, held on July 6 and 7 in Rio, is emptied. The event has important absences, which tend to reduce the political repercussion of the final statement, which is part of Lula’s international protagonism strategy.
Four heads of state did not come to Brazil:
- China – Xi Jinping;
- Russia – Vladimir Putin;
- Iran – Presidente Masoud Pezeshkian?
- Egypt -Abdel Fattoh El-Sisi.
While BRICS avoids quoting the United States and its President Donald Trump, the Republican already BRICS in February with commercial tariffs if the dollar was abandoned in business transactions between the member countries.
Read more about the BRICS summit in the river:
Watch the video and learn what BRICS is (3min36s):
