Russian President Vladimir Putin made more false claims during his speech at the BRICS summit. He talked about an "economic advantage" of BRICS over the G7, according to Andriy Kovalenko, head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council.

The U.S. president has threatened a 10 percent tariff on any country aligned with the BRICS bloc, a potential blow to Russia.

In the absence of Putin and Xi, the summit was dominated by Brazil’s Lula and India’s Modi, the leaders of the two largest BRICS democracies – and the least interested in turning the grouping into an anti-Western alliance. Antagonizing the United States was not on the agenda.

Kremlin spokesman says Moscow saw US President Trump's statement on imposing additional 10% tariff on countries that align themselves 'with the anti-American policies' of bloc - Anadolu Ajansı

At their latest summit in Brazil, the BRICS nations once again portrayed themselves as an emerging geopolitical heavyweight. Yet the internal contradictions within this expanding group remain plain to see.

Leaders expected to decry US President Trump’s trade tariffs while presenting the bloc as a defender of multilateralism.

President Donald Trump, appearing fed up, accused the Russian President Vladimir Putin of spouting “bullshit” and said he was “very strongly” considering supporting a punishing sanctions bill to bring Russia to heel.

Trump said at a Cabinet meeting that he was "not happy" with Putin, who he forcefully criticized for a second day in a row.