The head of the Russian delegation to the BRICS summit, Sergey Lavrov, landed in South Africa on Tuesday morning. The plane, just like during its January visit to Pretoria, landed at Waterkloof Air Force Base.
"Sergey Lavrov arrived in South Africa to attend the BRICS summit. And immediately, measuring the temperature is a mandatory part of welcoming arriving guests," the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
Upon his arrival, Lavrov has been welcomed by a South African traditional dance.
It is expected that the main topics on the agenda of the summit will be the expansion of the organization and the transition to national currencies.
The South African Foreign Ministry previously reported that 23 countries had officially applied to join the BRICS, and a number of states had expressed their interest at an unofficial level. In total, South Africa invited 67 countries of the "global South" and Africa to the summit.