July 19,2023: South Africa, the host of this year’s BRICS Summit, has said that the Russian President Vladimir Putin, will not be attending this year’s meeting.
The South African Presidency highlighted that decision was a “mutual agreement” between both the countries.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March and as an ICC member, South Africa was obliged to arrest the Russian President if he showed up for the summit.
On Tuesday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa asked permission from the ICC not to arrest Putin, because to do so would amount to a declaration of war.
Earlier, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, that everyone understood – without having it explained to them – what an attempt to infringe on Putin’s rights would mean, if the arrest were to take place.
