The 5 countries meeting will be held from August 22nd to 24th in South Africa; Russian president will participate virtually
In July, South Africa confirmed that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not attend the BRICS summit. According to the South African government, Putin is at risk of being arrested by the ICC (International Criminal Court, its acronym in English) for war crimes against Ukraine.
The meeting between the chief executives of the member countries of the group will be held from August 22nd to 24th, in Johannesburg (South Africa). Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent the country at the summit in person.
“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the Summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Sergey Lavrov”, said South Africa in a statement signed by President Cyril Ramaphosa. Here’s the full (247 KB, in English).
Before announcing Putin’s absence from the summit, the South African government announced that Ramaphosa had asked the ICC to lift the arrest warrant for the Russian leader. For the president, arresting and handing Putin over to international authorities would be a declaration of war.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute, which established the international court, South Africa would have an obligation to arrest Putin when he arrived in the country. The Ramaphosa-led nation incorporated the statute into South African law, so any move to evade its obligations by amending or repudiating the law would have to pass through the South African Parliament and could be overturned by the country’s Constitutional Court.
On August 16, Itamaraty stated that Putin will participate virtually in the BRICS summit. This is the first time that the Russian president has not attended the summit in person as the country’s leader.
In 2009, when the Brics was created and the acronym still consisted only of Brazil, India, China and Russia, Putin had just ended his 8-year term, which ran from 2000 to 2008. His successor, Dmitry Medvedev, participated in the 1st meeting of the group, held in Russia itself, and represented the country for the next 3 years.
Since Putin was elected again as president in 2012, Russia has hosted two meetings of the bloc: in 2015 and in 2020 – this one held virtually due to the covid-19 pandemic.
No Brazilian president missed the meetings. President Lula visited Russia in 2009 and represented Brazil at the summit in 2010, in Brasília. In 2011, Dilma Rousseff assumed the presidency and continued to be present until 2016, the year in which she left the Planalto after the impeachment process.
Michel Temer represented the Brazilian delegation in 2017 and 2018. In 2019, Brazil hosted the Brics meeting, with Bolsonaro as host. From 2020 to 2022, the then president continued to attend events. This year, Lula is going to South Africa for the 15th Brics summit.
THE CHARGES AGAINST PUTIN
In March, the ICC issued arrest warrants against the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, and against Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian Presidential Office. The 2 are accused of war crimes for illegally deporting children and transferring them from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
According to the organization, the crimes would have been committed since the beginning of the conflict, on February 24, 2022. “There are reasonable grounds to believe that they [Putin e Lvova-Belova] committed the acts directly, along with others and/or through others”.stated the Court.
Putin is also accused of “failure to exercise adequate control over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts”as well as allowing committees or subordinates to be persuaded.
The warrants are confidential to protect victims and witnesses, as well as to avoid compromising the investigation. The ICC decision is based on the Rome Statute, in force since 1998 and signed by 123 countries, including Brazil. Here’s the full of the document (385 KB – in English).
BRICS AND ITS OBJECTIVES
Brics is an acronym for the bloc formed by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (South Africa, in English). The original expression was “Bric” and was coined in 2001 by Jim O’Neill, then chief economist at Goldman Sachs. At the time, South Africa was not yet part of the bloc. Became a member in 2010.
Watch the video produced by Poder360 about Brics and its goals (2min5s):
The member countries cooperate in several areas. They intend to oppose the influence exercised by the economies of the United States and European countries.
Together, the BRICS countries represent a significant portion of the world’s population and wealth. More and more nations, especially in the eastern hemisphere, are showing interest in joining the bloc. Brazilian diplomacy asks “caution” in expansion.
This report was produced by journalism interns Evellyn Paola and Fernanda Fosenca under the supervision of assistant editor Ighor Nóbrega.
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