Arctic Cooperation Within the Framework of BRICSin the Context of Its Expansion and Transformationof Global Governance for a Changing World

Since 2024, the BRICS Interstate Association of countries with dynamically developing economies has been a platform for the development of multilateral and mutually beneficial cooperation between Russia, China, Brazil, India, the Republic of South Africa, Iran, the UAE, Ethiopia and Egypt, and in 2025 Indonesia joined the BRICS. Saudi Arabia has also shown interest in this association. The second wave of expansion along the South-South track (the first being the accession of South Africa) leads to the establishment of a new format of interaction within the expanded BRICS membership. Considering the accession of such countries as Ethiopia, Egypt, Iran, Indonesia, and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to the association, we can predict intensified interaction within the framework of the association of even more countries in the future. In this regard, the question arises of searching for possible promising areas for cooperation between countries within the expanded BRICS, one of which may be cooperation in the Arctic – a strategic region for many countries given that climate change affects the interests of those seemingly far from region of the Far North countries. In the current conditions of decreasing efficiency of the regulatory function of the Arctic Council, the agenda includes the study of new international flexible formats for cooperation between countries in the region. In this context, the BRICS format seems quite promising for research in the above-mentioned vein. Within the framework of this article, through the prism of key scientific works and documents, the interests of BRICS countries in the Arctic are examined with an emphasis on the new BRICS member countries through an analysis of their existing or emerging Arctic agendas. Promising areas for their cooperation in the region are identified and a conclusion is formulated that the BRICS format can contribute to the development of cooperation in the Arctic region, especially taking into account the expansion of its composition in the context of the transformation of global governance.