ABSTRACT
The BRICS group is a core symbol of Russian discontent with the international system. Both political and economic security are part of the story as well, particularly in the period immediately following the onset of the Ukraine crisis in 2014. This chapter tells the story of the rise and fall of BRICS in Russian foreign policy from the advent of the group in 2005 through 2017. Russia played a critical role in effecting BRICS’s transformation from economic concept to political group. Yanukovych’s ouster terrified the Kremlin. Russian leadership has long accused the West of meddling in elections in its borderlands. Russia’s annexation of Crimea took the West by surprise, but the response was swift. The concretisation of goals leads to a discussion of Russian efforts to boost trade and economic relations with other BRICS nations. BRICS has allowed Russia to change the dominant narrative about its place in global order and thereby protect and preserve its great power status.
