Putin, Subject to ICC Arrest Warrant, Absent from BRICS Summit in South Africa

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President Vladimir Putin, against whom the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant, will not attend the BRICS summit to be held next month in South Africa.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on the 19th (local time) that the BRICS summit next month will be held in person, adding, "The summit will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa by mutual agreement, while Russian President Putin will not attend, and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend on his behalf." Earlier, South Africa had invited Russian President Putin to the BRICS summit hosted in Johannesburg from the 22nd to the 24th of next month.

President Putin was issued an arrest warrant by the ICC in March on charges of war crimes, including the illegal relocation of children from occupied territories in Ukraine. As South Africa is an ICC member state, it has an obligation to cooperate in executing the arrest warrant if President Putin enters the country, which has raised interest in whether Putin will actually visit South Africa.

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