Uncertainty remains as to how the Russian leader will attend the event in South Africa, with an ICC arrest warrant against him
FILE PHOTO: Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a press-conference at the 10th BRICS summit in South Africa in 2018. © AFP / Alexey Nikolsky
Russian President Vladimir Putin has not yet decided how he will participate in the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa next month, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov has said.
President Putin’s attendance at the high-profile event with the leaders of China, Brazil, India and South Africa was cast into doubt after an arrest warrant was issued for him by the International Criminal Court in March. The ICC accused the Russian president and the country’s commissioner for children’s rights of “forcible transfer of the population,” referring to Moscow’s move to evacuate minors from combat zones amid the fighting in Ukraine.
Russia, which never ratified the 1998 Rome Statute that established the Hague-based court, has stressed that the body has no authority over it. However, South Africa is a member of the ICC, and according to the country’s laws, is obliged to arrest Putin if he sets foot on its territory.
“The format [of Putin’s participation in the BRICS summit] hasn’t been fully determined yet. The discussions are ongoing,” Peskov told journalists on Friday. “When the final decision is made, we’ll inform everyone about it,” he said.
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The Kremlin spokesman was addressed on the issue after a report by South Africa’s Eyewitness News on Friday, which quoted the head of the BRICS Business Council, Stavros Nicolaou, as saying that “five BRICS heads of state will attend the forum.” The summit is set to take place in Johannesburg between August 22 and 24.
Nicolaou was speaking at the Business Council’s meeting in the Sandton area outside Johannesburg, also attended by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa. During the gathering, Ramaphosa denied speculation that the BRICS summit could be turned into a virtual event due to the warrant for Putin. “There were rumors that this… could become an online summit. No, it is going to be face-to-face, eyeball-to-eyeball,” the head of state said.
On Tuesday, South Africa’s Deputy President Paul Mashatile told the local outlet Mail & Guardian that Pretoria had suggested that Moscow make Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov the Russian delegation leader at the BRICS summit instead of Putin.
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“The Russians are not happy with that, they want their whole delegation to come, led by him [Putin],” Mashatile said, adding discussions between the sides were ongoing.
