South African President Cyril Ramaphosaconfirmed this Wednesday that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will not attend the summit of the group of emerging economies BRICS next August, after months of controversy over the international arrest warrant for the Russian president.
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“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the country will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,” the South African Presidency said in a statement.
As a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC), South Africa, which will host the BRICS summit on August 22-24 in Johannesburg, is obliged to cooperate in Putin’s arrest, But the country had so far avoided revealing how it would proceed if Russia landed on its territory..
By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the country will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
However, the same South African president acknowledged that an arrest against Putin would be “a declaration of war.”
“Russia clearly indicated that any arrest of its incumbent president would amount to a declaration of war. It would not be consistent with our constitution to risk embroiling the country in a war with Russia.“, wrote.
What does Russia say?
However, the Kremlin denied that it had warned South Africa that Putin’s detention would be a declaration of war.
The spokesman for the Russian Presidency, Dmitri Peskov, denied this point in his daily telephone press conference.
“No, that has not been said. Nothing has been implied to anyone,” Peskov said when asked about Ramaphosa’s statement.
However, he immediately added: “Everyone in this world knows perfectly well what it means to take action against the Russian head of state.” “That’s why you don’t have to explain anything to anyone,” he stressed.
No, that has not been said. She has not given anyone to understand anything
Background to the ICC arrest warrant
The Russian president has been the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) since March for the war crime of “deportation” of Ukrainian children after the invasion of Ukraine, accusations rejected by the Russian government.
As a member of the ICC, South Africa should theoretically arrest Putin if he enters its territory. A great diplomatic dilemma for the government, which refuses to condemn Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The case took a judicial turn as the main South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is trying through the courts to force the government to ensure that Putin is arrested and handed over to the ICC if he sets foot in South Africa.
In an affidavit, Ramaphosa called that party’s request “irresponsible.”
INTERNATIONAL WRITING
*With AFP and Efe
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