Russia’s Putin, target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant, will skip BRICS summit in South Africa
- Putin won’t attend next month’s BRICS summit in Johannesburg resolving a potential dilemma South Africa faced whether to execute a warrant for his arrest if he did come
- South Africa, as a member of the International Criminal Court, would theoretically be required to arrest Putin for alleged war crimes if arrived in the country for the summit
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa in August “by mutual agreement”, South Africa’s presidency said on Wednesday.
Russia will be represented by its Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov instead, the presidency said in a statement. The leaders of Brazil, India, China and South Africa will attend the summit.
South Africa faced a dilemma in hosting the summit because, as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), it would theoretically be required to arrest Putin for alleged war crimes if he were to attend.
The ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Putin.
Arresting Vladimir Putin would amount to a declaration of war on Russia, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa wrote in court papers released on Tuesday.
South Africa’s diplomatic dilemma is playing out in court, where the leading opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is trying to force the government’s hand and ensure the Kremlin leader is held and handed over to the ICC if he steps foot in the country.