Putin will not go to BRICS to avoid arrest warrant

He South African President Cyril Ramaphosaconfirmed today that his Russian colleague, Vladimir Putinwill not attend the summit of the emerging BRICS group of economies next August, following months of controversy over the international arrest warrant for the Russian president.

“By mutual agreement, President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin he will not attend the summit, but he will represent the country Minister of Foreign Affairs Sergej Lavrov,” the South African presidency announced.

South Africa, which will host the BRICS summit between August 22 and 24 in Johannesburg, has been in the spotlight after last March it confirmed an invitation to the Russian president to attend the meetings, despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against him for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

As a member state of the ICC, South Africa is required to cooperate in Putin’s arrest, but the country has so far avoided revealing how it would act if the Russian president landed on its territory.

However, Ramaphosa He refused to arrest his Russian counterpart because it would be like a “declaration of war” against Russia, the Gauteng High Court (North) reported on Tuesday, which published the president’s statement.

“It would be against our constitution to risk going to war with Russia,” Ramaphosa said in response to a lawsuit filed by South Africa’s main opposition party. Democratic Alliance (AD)obtain a “declaratory warrant” that would guarantee Putin’s arrest.

South Africa claims to have taken a neutral position on Russia’s war against Ukraine, and has called for dialogue and diplomacy to resolve the conflict.

This position is not only related to the strategic, political and economic role that Moscow has in some African countries, but also to historical reasons, such as Russian support for anti-colonial and liberation movements of the 20th century, such as the fight against the segregation regime of “apartheid”.

Brazil, Russia, India and China created the BRIC group in 2006, which was joined in 2010 by South Africa, which added the letter S to the acronym.