South Africa says Putin will skip a summit next month because of his ICC arrest warrant
South Africa says Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend an economic summit in Johannesburg next month
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — Vladimir Putin has agreed not to attend an economic summit in Johannesburg next month after being asked to stay away by host country South Africa, which was facing a major legal quandary over whether to arrest the Russian president on an International Criminal Court warrant.
The August summit brings together Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — a bloc of developing economies known as BRICS. Officials have said that Putin wants to attend the gathering but have been trying to persuade him to stay away to avoid the legal and diplomatic fallout over his international arrest warrant.
On Wednesday, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Putin will not attend the BRICS summit after a “mutual agreement," ending months of speculation. South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and would have been obliged it to arrest him.
Although Moscow has dismissed the warrant and Russia doesn't recognize the authority of the international court, Putin has not traveled to any country that is a signatory to the court's treaty since he was indicted by the ICC in March for war crimes relating to the abduction of children from Ukraine.
South African authorities had given strong hints that they would have likely not executed the arrest warrant against Putin, but South Africa's main opposition party has taken the government to court in an attempt to compel it to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on South African territory.
Russia will be represented at the BRICS summit by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, Ramaphosa's office said in a statement.
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