Putin says Brics should become trading bloc representing ‘global majority’

Differences among the group – comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – became apparent at the summit. Photograph: Per-Anders Pettersson/Getty Images

Vladimir Putin has told a summit of the Brics group of countries in South Africa that it should become a trading bloc representing the “global majority”.

However, differences among the group – comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – have become apparent at the summit over accepting new members, and whether to turn Brics into a geopolitical counterweight to the west.