| Summary/Abstract |
EN ROUTE to the African continent, those of us on the special flight of Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made forecasts about what would happen at the summit in Johannesburg, how BRICS expansion would unfold, which countries would join the Big Five, and how many. After the IL-96 aircraft of the Russia flight group took off, the minister, as is his custom, went into the main cabin to meet with journalists. He was in excellent form, in a good mood, and friendly and witty as always. He wished us successful work. We wished him the same. We flew on, anticipating a large-scale, world-class event. And then there were three days of summit meetings - three days that changed the world forever. Expectations were not simply met, but exceeded the wildest forecasts. The XV BRICS summit became the most representative in the entire history of the association. Delegations from nearly 60 countries took part in the forum. Its decisions, without any exaggeration, can be called historic.
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