The talks between Russian President Vladimir Putin and an African delegation on Ukraine peace initiative have finished in the Konstantinovsky Palace in St. Petersburg after 2.5 hours, a Sputnik correspondent reported on Saturday.
The meeting was followed by a bilateral talks between South African President and Vladimir Putin regarding Moscow’s stance on the Ukraine crisis.
"Thank you for listening to us and also for explaining to us the situation you are involved in," Ramaphosa said, as broadcast by Rossiya 24, after the second talks were over.
The South African leader added that he discussed a number of both Ukraine-related and BRICS-related issues with Putin and that discussions will continue during the Russia-Africa summit in July.
"Dear Mr. President, first of all I would like to thank you for making it possible for you to come to Russia with this noble mission, to which we devoted several hours today. It seems to me that both in the formal and in the informal part, we discussed in almost detail many, the main, in any case, aspects of the problem related to the [Ukraine] crisis, for the resolution of which you came to Russia," Putin said.
"We have the opportunity to say a few words about our bilateral relations, as well as interaction within the framework of international associations, including BRICS. Thank you very much for your visit," Putin said during his meeting with Ramaphosa, as broadcast by Rossiya 24.
BRICS unites the world's largest developing economies — Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. A number of other countries intend to join the economic bloc, including Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
The topic of BRICS expansion will be on the agenda of the 15th summit in August, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.
"We are waiting for the BRICS summit to be held at the end of August. And the topic of expansion will be on the agenda. The BRICS participants will discuss this," Peskov told Russian broadcaster RT Arabic, adding that Russia "is pleased that more and more countries are showing a keen interest in this association."
The August 15th BRICS summit in will be hosted by South Africa, which assumed the rotating BRICS presidency in January.