South African authorities are asking Russian President Vladimir Putin not to come to the BRICS summit, which will be held in South Africa this summer. The reason for this is the arrest warrant against the Russian President, which was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine. On this subject writing South African newspaper Sunday Times, citing sources.
The Republic of South Africa is one of the signatories to the Rome Statute, which obliges it to comply with the decisions of the ICC.
“We have no choice but to arrest Putin. If he comes here, we will have to arrest him,” a South African government spokesman told the newspaper.
According to the Sunday Times, South African President Cyril Ramaposa last week appointed a special government commission, headed by the country’s vice-president, to study the authorities’ options regarding the issuance of an arrest warrant against Vladimir Poutine.
According to the publication’s interlocutor, the committee will not be able to find any other options, except for Putin’s participation in the summit via a video link from Moscow.
Unnamed senior officials confirmed to the publication that Pretoria was in talks with Moscow over the matter.
In late March, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said there was still no decision on the Russian president’s participation in the Durban summit.
The Republic of South Africa maintains close ties with Moscow. The Kremlin once supported the ANC’s struggle against the apartheid regime.
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began in February last year, South Africa has not publicly condemned Moscow’s actions, saying it wanted to remain neutral and prefer dialogue to end to armed conflict.
The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin after accusations against the Kremlin over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
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