Russia’s President
South Africa: Putin does not personally attend Brics summit
Vladimir Putin is not traveling to the Brics summit in South Africa. photo
© Eraldo Peres/AP/dpa
Russian President Vladimir Putin will not travel to South Africa to attend the Brics Summit. South Africa should have arrested Putin because of an international arrest warrant.
The summit of emerging Brics countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa will take place in Johannesburg on August 22-24.
South Africa has been under international pressure for months because the country invited the Russian President to the summit meeting of the economically strongest emerging countries despite an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC). The court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant against Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine in March.
Kremlin: Putin participates via video
According to information from Moscow, Putin takes part in the Brics summit via video. “It will be a full participation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax. At the same time, he confirmed that Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will personally travel to the meeting of the states of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.
Moscow warns: arrest equals “declaration of war”
South Africa’s President Ramaphosa announced on Tuesday that Russia had warned South Africa that arresting Putin would be tantamount to a “declaration of war.” South Africa therefore has “obvious problems with the implementation of a request for the arrest and extradition of President Putin”. Ramaphosa had previously left open for months whether South Africa would actually arrest Putin.
South Africa had already come under criticism in 2015 when the country refused to arrest then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir and extradite him to the International Criminal Court.
Baerbock says so
Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock had long criticized South Africa’s lurching course. She therefore commented on Putin’s rejection with satisfaction: “This makes it clear that international criminal law, with all its loopholes, is not a weak sword, but that international criminal law works.”
Putin’s refusal also shows “that those who commit massive breaches of international law cannot simply travel around the world as before.” Baerbock had previously said: “International law is clear at this point. International law makes it clear: war criminals, those responsible for waging aggressive wars, will at some point be held accountable.