Putin will not attend Johannesburg summit due to ICC arrest warrant

(Patria) - Vladimir Putin will not attend the economic summit in Johannesburg next month, which will include the Chinese premier and other world leaders, due to the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for the Russian president, South African authorities announced.

Russia and the summit host reached a "mutual agreement" that Putin will not attend the gathering from August 22 to 24, which brings together the bloc of developing economies known as BRICS, although he was originally invited, the office of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.

The event could be seen as embarrassing for Putin, who is now expected to be the only leader of a country in the bloc not to attend, AP reports.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin "decided to participate" in the summit via video link, without saying whether he intended to attend the summit in person. This ended months of speculation about whether Putin would travel to South Africa, which is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court and therefore has an obligation to arrest the Russian leader if he sets foot on South African territory.

South Africa gave strong indications that it would not arrest Putin if he attended, but also lobbied for him not to come to avoid the problem. South Africa said as recently as last week that the Russian leader was determined to attend, perhaps as a way to challenge the ICC warrant, which Moscow has rejected.

Moscow has presented the BRICS alliance as an alternative to Western global dominance, but this year's meeting proved awkward for Putin after the ICC's move in March to charge him with war crimes related to the abduction of children from Ukraine. Although Moscow has rejected the warrant, Putin has not traveled to ICC signatory countries since the indictment was issued.

The South African government has strong political ties with Russia, but Putin's presence would expose it to possible diplomatic and legal consequences.

The main opposition party in South Africa recently took the government to court in an attempt to force it to arrest Putin if he came to the country. The ICC treaty has also been incorporated into South African domestic law, meaning the government could be taken to court in South Africa if it fails to comply with its obligation to the international court.

Ramaphosa spoke with Putin by phone this weekend and held further "consultations" with BRICS officials on Tuesday, according to a statement from Ramaphosa. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the BRICS summit in person to represent Russia,

the Ramaphosa office said. Leaders of all other BRICS countries, including Xi Jinping, will attend the summit, Ramaphosa's office said.
Wednesday's statement comes after a court document was publicly released in which Ramaphosa said any attempt by South Africa to arrest Putin would be seen as a "declaration of war" against Russia.

The sworn statement given by Ramaphosa was part of the government's response to a court challenge by the country's main opposition party to force it to arrest Putin.

"I must emphasize, for the sake of transparency, that South Africa has obvious problems with executing the request for the arrest and surrender of President Putin," Ramaphosa said in the sworn statement. "Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war," he added.

However, Kremlin spokesman Peskov denied this.

"No one has pointed anything out to anyone," Peskov said. "In this world, it is absolutely clear to everyone what an attempt to encroach on the head of the Russian state means. So, there is no need to explain anything to anyone here," he added.