International Criminal Court

The Kremlin announces that Russian Vladimir Putin will attend the next BRICS summit via videoconference, after South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had announced that his counterpart, by mutual agreement, would not attend the summit.

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to participate in the BRICS summit in South Africa via videoconference, and this participation will be in full, according to what was announced by the Russian presidential spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced today, Wednesday, that Putin will not attend the BRICS summit to be held in Johannesburg in late August, ending months of speculation about this issue.

“The Russian president will not attend the summit by mutual agreement,” Ramaphosa’s office said in a statement, adding that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would attend instead, while the leaders of Brazil, India and China were still expected to attend in person.

This declaration spares Pretoria a “thorny internal dilemma”, at a time when it presides over the “BRICS” group of countries.

Putin was invited to the summit of the five developing countries, scheduled to be held from 22 to 24 August in Johannesburg, but the Russian president was targeted at the beginning of March by a warrant from the International Criminal Court for “war crimes”, accusations that Moscow completely rejects.

Nevertheless, in theory, South Africa is supposed to arrest Putin if he enters its territory, as a member of the International Criminal Court, noting that it demanded to withdraw from the International Criminal Court, “because of the court’s unfair treatment towards some countries.”

In the context, the South African president said in documents published yesterday, Tuesday, in the midst of a national debate on this issue, that Putin’s arrest would be tantamount to a “declaration of war” on Russia, and would threaten “the security, peace and order of the state” in the country.

In turn, South African Vice President Paul Machatili said that his government is seeking to persuade the president not to come to the summit.

This came after the case took a legal turn, as the Democratic Alliance, which is the main opposition party in South Africa, asked the courts to compel the government to ensure that Putin is arrested and handed over to the International Criminal Court if he sets foot in the country.

The South African government has been heavily criticized by Western diplomats for its solidarity with Russia since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, while Pretoria asserts that it adopts a “neutral” position and “refuses to join Western calls to condemn Russia,” stressing that it wants to “strengthen dialogue.” .

Relations between South Africa and Russia date back to the apartheid era. The Kremlin supported the African National Congress in standing up to the apartheid regime.

It is noteworthy that the “BRICS” group includes Russia, China, Brazil, India and the Republic of South Africa, with a total population of 3.21 billion, which constitutes about 42% of the world’s population.

The BRICS countries occupy 26.7% of the world’s land area and contribute about 31.5% of the world’s total output.

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2023-07-19 20:26:15