Russian President Vladimir Putin will not come to the BRICS summit in South Africa, the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, said.
“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the Summit but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister, Mr Sergey Lavrov,” South Africa noted.
Thus, the leaders of only four countries – Brazil, India, China, and the Republic of South Africa – will participate in the summit in August.
Earlier, Russia hinted to the South African Republic about the negative consequences of Putin’s possible arrest at the BRICS summit in August. This was announced by the country’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa.
“Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war. It would be inconsistent with our constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia,” Ramaphosa explained.
The Republic of South Africa has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. Therefore, South Africa must fulfill the institution’s request.
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