BRICS summit to be 'physical' despite arrest warrant against Putin: South Africa
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa Sunday confirmed that the BRICS summit scheduled to be held next month, which Vladimir Putin has been invited to attend, will be ‘physical’ despite an arrest warrant against the Russian leader, reported AFP. South Africa is the current chair of the BRICS, a grouping of heavyweights that also includes Brazil, Russia, India and China and is set to host the 15th BRICS summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in its financial hub Johannesburg from August 22 to 24. "The BRICS summit is going ahead and we are finalising our discussions on the format," AFP reported quoting Ramaphosa, adding it will be a "physical" meeting.
The South African President did not say if Putin -- who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) over accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children -- would attend the summit or not. "We are going to have a physical BRICS summit, all of us are committed to having a summit where we will be able to eyeball each other," Ramaphosa said in response to a question during a briefing broadcast live on local television networks. "We have not held a physical summit for...
almost three years. It's not going to be virtual," The South African President stressed. As a member of the ICC, South Africa would be expected to arrest Putin if he sets foot in the country.
Earlier, there had been speculation in the local media that Pretoria may consider moving the talks to China, which is not signatory to the Rome Statute, to avoid being put in the position of having to arrest Putin. The arrest warrant is a diplomatic dilemma for Pretoria, which has been close to the Kremlin since the anti-apartheid struggle years. South Africa has not condemned Russia's invasion of
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