Russia’s President Vladimir Putin will not attend a BRICS nations summit in South Africa next month “by mutual agreement,” the country’s presidency said on Wednesday, ending months of speculation he could be detained. South Africa is a signatory to the International Criminal Court and, as such, would be expected to implement an arrest warrant issued by the court against the Russian leader in March for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.
CBS News understands the matter has been a thorny diplomatic issue for Pretoria, which has sought to balance its close relations with Moscow and its need for good relationships with Western powers. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed an inter-ministerial committee headed by Deputy President Paul Mashatile to look into the issue. The panel has been working on whether a legal loophole in the treaty established by the ICC might enable South Africa to host a summit without being obliged to arrest a world leader wanted by the court.
South Africa is also exploring the possibility of asking China, a member of the BRICS economic bloc along with Brazil, Russia, and India, to host the meeting instead. But that idea has drawn criticism from senior government officials, who say it would send the wrong signal to Moscow, especially amid tensions over the U.S.-led sanctions on Russia over the Ukrainian conflict.
Putin’s potential visit has been a particularly thorny issue because the BRICS group includes countries not bound by the Rome Statute, which establishes the ICC, and Russia refuses explicitly to recognize it. The Kremlin has said any attempt to arrest Putin on an ICC warrant while attending a BRICS summit in South Africa would be tantamount to declaring war on Russia.
Despite the diplomatic tangle, senior officials from the governing African National Congress say that they are confident Putin will not be arrested in August when the BRICS group is meeting in Johannesburg. The government says it’s not up to the police to arrest a sitting head of state and that it has granted Putin diplomatic immunity.
A separate measure aimed at giving local officers the power to decide who to arrest and who not to arrest has been submitted for parliament’s approval, South Africa’s deputy minister of cooperative governance and traditional affairs, Obed Bapela, told BBC News. It is expected to be approved by June, and the new law will allow South Africa to give itself exemptions from ICC arrest warrants, Bapela said. “We are going to make sure that our laws are not used as an instrument for international politics,” he said. “That will give us the flexibility to invite the heads of states who are wanted by the ICC and not arrest them.” He added that Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Russia at the BRICS summit. The summit will be held Aug 22-24.
