Moscow expects the BRICS countries of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa to deepen cooperation in military technology, Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev said Tuesday.

More military-tech contracts could enhance the cooperation of BRICS members in fighting terrorism, extremism, cross-border crimes as well as new threats and challenges, Patrushev told the fifth meeting of high-ranking security representatives of the BRICS nations.

"We have proven we are able to jointly solve tasks of a very wide range," Interfax news agency quoted him as saying.

Meanwhile, Patrushev warned that the West has exercised political and financial pressure on the BRICS countries in an attempt to undermine the bloc's economic might.

The West, he added, is also using an increasing amount of informational warfare to "artificially highlight" national, religious and cultural discords among the five BRICS countries.

Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov, for his part, expressed the hope that the BRICS Development Bank could help support Russia's economic development, as the bank is scheduled to begin practical operations after the upcoming Ufa summit.

The Ufa gathering will also discuss the reform of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, Ryabkov said, while criticizing the United States for blocking reforms of these institutions.

Russia holds the rotating chair of BRICS in 2015, and a summit has been scheduled for July 8-9 in Ufa, capital of Russia's Bashkortostan republic. Endi

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