Malaysian Ambassador to Russia, Cheong Loon Lai confirmed to Russian media that Malaysia received an official invitation in mid-November and responded positively to Moscow, the current BRICS chair. 

👉 This follows a recent BRICS summit in Kazan, where Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that a list of prospective partner countries had been agreed upon, although he did not reveal the full list at that time. 

Putin explained that invitations would be sent, and the final list of partner countries would be announced after receiving positive responses.