President Vlamir Putin of Russia, will not be joining other members of BRICS to attend it’s Summit in South Africa following a threat by the International Criminal Court to effect his arrest in the African soil.
Mr Cyril Ramaphosa, the president of South Africa who confirmed this in a statement on Wednesday, said that the Russian leader would now be represented by Sergey Lavrov, the country’s foreign minister.
“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,” Mr Ramaphosa said.
“It will be the first BRICS Summit to be hosted in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global restrictions.”
Mr Putin, who was invited to the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg this August, became a target of International Criminal Court after he was accused of committing war crimes in Ukraine.
Though, South Africa, as an ICC member, is expected to handover Putin to the international organization in case he shows up for the summit.
Though, president Ramaphosa had earlier warned that any attempt to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin as he plans to visit the country next month would be “a declaration of war with Russia.”
“Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war,” Mr Ramaphosa said in court documents released Tuesday.
