Sputnik goes live as Russian President Vladimir Putin participates in an online extraordinary BRICS summit that will focus on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Earlier, the South African government declared that President Cyril Ramaphosa, the chair of the bloc for 2023, will convene an extraordinary joint meeting of the BRICS Extraordinary Joint Meeting on the Middle East Situation in Gaza on Tuesday. The leaders of the current member states of the bloc, as well as newly-invited countries, are expected to participate in the event. The government mentioned that a joint statement on the situation in the Gaza Strip is anticipated to be adopted by the participants towards the end of the meeting.
Chinese President Xi Jinping is also scheduled to join the conference.
Earlier, commenting on the situation in Gaza, President Putin spoke of the need for Palestine to create its own independent state. Putin also noted Israel's right to self-defense.
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