“At present and most likely in the near future, Kazakhstan will refrain from submitting a BRICS candidacy,” Kazakh Presidential Spokesperson Berik Uali said in an interview with local news on Wednesday.

Uali added that President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has repeatedly spoken out in favor of the United Nations as a “universal and irreplaceable international organization”, and said that the UN Security Council should be reformed to take into account the interests of regional powers.

Kazakhstan’s move represents a blow to Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is trying to portray BRICS as an alliance of the “global majority” as part of Moscow’s efforts to challenge a dominant West and contest war-related sanctions. Russian against Ukraine.

Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said BRICS does not replace the UN, on the contrary, “they complement, rather than contradict, its international nature.”

“Kazakhstan is our friend, our strategic partner, our ally. We value our relationships. That’s the first thing. That is why, of course, Kazakhstan itself makes decisions on the format of its participation in certain organizations,” Peskov said.

These tensions come ahead of the BRICS summit scheduled for October 22-24 in the Russian city of Kazan, where Tokayev will participate as a guest in an expanded meeting next Thursday.