Venezuela is furious with Brazil's Brics

Venezuela has criticized Brazil's decision to oppose its admission to the Brics group of developing economies.

Venezuela's Ministry of Foreign Affairs described the move, which came at the group's summit in Russia, which was attended by the leaders of more than 20 countries, as “an act of immorality”.

Relations between those left-wing governments have worsened since Venezuela's July presidential election. President Nicolás Maduro said he has won re-election, despite evidence that Edmundo González of the opposition won by a landslide.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva initially supported Maduro, but eventually said he would not accept the official results until the vote was split.

Many foreign governments say they believe the opposition has won the elections in Venezuela, but stop short of recognizing González as president.

“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Brazil has decided to keep that veto [former Brazilian president] “Jair Bolsonaro has applied against Venezuela for years, reproducing the hatred, discrimination and intolerance promoted in the institutions of Western power,” the Venezuelan Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“The Venezuelan people feel outraged and ashamed of this unspeakable act of violence and immorality,” it added.

Venezuela has tried hard to join the BRICS, and Maduro even made a surprise appearance at the conference in the city of Kazan and announced that his country is “part of the BRICS family”.

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, who chaired the conference, said he agrees with Venezuela's point of view, adding that it will only be able to join BRICS if there is consensus among its members.

“We know the situation in Brazil. We do not agree, Venezuela is fighting for its survival,” Putin said at a press conference on Thursday.

He said he discussed this issue with Lula when they spoke on the phone this week. Lula was supposed to go to Russia for the conference, but canceled the trip afterwards who suffered a head injury in an accident that happened at home on Saturday.

Putin added that he would work to help the two South American neighbors mend relations.

BRICS started out as a group consisting of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. Last year, however, the original members agreed to accept a number of newcomers, including Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran and the United Arab Emirates.

Lula is a passionate advocate of BRICS as a way to reform global governance and give a greater voice to developing countries.

He criticized the “paralysis” of global institutions, while hailing the expansion of BRICS as intensifying the battle of different ideologies.

But some observers counter that the BRICS itself is crippled by its own internal conflicts, with Russia in the Ukraine war, while China and India have their own conflicts.

The recent BRICS summit in Kazan was seen as an opportunity for President Putin to demonstrate that efforts to isolate Russia over its aggression in Ukraine have failed.

But in his efforts to strengthen the party as an opposition to the Western-led state, he has also exposed further divisions, leaving relations between Brasília and Caracas at their lowest point since Lula's re-election two years ago.