Putin, facing international arrest warrant, will not attend upcoming BRICS summit in Johannesburg

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the upcoming BRICS summit which is to be hosted in Johannesburg next month, the South African presidency said on Wednesday (July 19). This comes a day after court papers revealed that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said arresting Putin, who is under an international warrant over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, would amount to a declaration of war. The summit will be hosted in Johannesburg on August 22-24.

‘Mutual agreement’

The South African government said in a statement that “by mutual agreement” between the two countries, the Russian president “will not attend” the summit, adding that Moscow will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead.

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This comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president earlier this year, and South Africa, as a member state of the world court, would be obligated to arrest Putin if he were to set foot on its territory.

The arrest warrant against Putin was issued after the ICC accused him of war crimes after he reportedly deported Ukrainian children to Russia. Moscow has since dismissed the order as “outrageous” and legally void since Russia is not a member of the world court.

Kremlin responds to Ramaphosa’s statement

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on Wednesday that Moscow did not say that Putin’s arrest would mean “war,” adding that everyone understood – without having it explained to them – what an attempt to infringe on Putin’s rights would mean.

“No, no such formulations were uttered, no one gave anyone to understand that,” said Peskov, when asked if any warning was given by Moscow about the possibility of war if Putin were to get arrested.

The developments come as the South African president was facing the diplomatic dilemma for months on dealing with the issue.

The opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA) tried to force its hand on the incumbent government to ensure that Putin was arrested and handed over to the ICC.

However, in a responding affidavit, Ramaphosa said that the DA’s application is “irresponsible,” adding “Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war.”

South African presidency about the BRICS summit

BRICS is a grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

“The Summit will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa,” said the country’s presidency ahead of the upcoming summit which will be hosted in Johannesburg.

This is the first BRICS Summit to be hosted in person since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic.

(With inputs from agencies)

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