Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić said on Monday that he will not participate in the BRICS summit, which this year is hosted by Russian President Vladimir Putin, but that Serbia will be represented by four ministers.

In an interview for Radio Television of Serbia (RTS), Vučić said that he told the President of Russia, over the phone, that there will be a lot of meetings with European officials during the BRICS summit, on October 22-24.

“We will send a delegation that will include four ministers, the Deputy Prime Minister, Aleksandar Vulli, the Minister of Defense, Bratislava, Gasić, the Minister of Economy, Adrijana Mesarović and the minister without portfolio, Nenad Popović,” said Vučić.

He said that the Prime Minister of Poland, Donald Tusk, will visit Belgrade on October 23.

Vucic has repeated that Serbia has not joined the West’s sanctions against Russia, after the start of the war in Ukraine.

He said that according to the results of some public opinion polls, the support of the Serbs for the EU and BRICS is 42 to 42 percent, and that he does not rule out that the situation could change if it were declared “different from what I have stated so far”.

BRICS is an informal trade forum created by Russia, China, India, Brazil and South Africa.