George Galloway has hailed the pro-Russia Brics economic group as “the future”.

The radical former MP spoke to The Telegraph at the three-day Brics summit in Kazan, Russia, which Vladimir Putin has used to promote his invasion of Ukraine, criticise the West and accuse Israel of war crimes.

Mr Galloway said: “I’m a father of six. Brics is their future, and it’s very exciting. Brics now represents half the world’s population – this is a turning point in world history.”

Before talking to The Telegraph, he had given an interview to one of dozens of state TV stations from the 36 countries attending the summit, in which he criticised the small British press contingent as “hating Russia”. 

He also said there was more media freedom in Russia than in Britain.