Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS summit in August, the Presidency said on Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will instead represent the Russian Federation in Vladimir Putin’s absence by “mutual agreement.”
The leaders of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa will, however, be present at the much-publicized summit.
The gathering will be the first BRICS Summit hosted in person since the dawn of Covid-19 pandemic which was accompanied by global travel restrictions.
The International Criminal Court issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest early in 2023 in connection with his alleged crimes against humanity in the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
In a statement, President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed South Africa’s readiness to host the 15th BRICS Summit.
Over the past few months and weeks, Ramaphosa has held consultations on the summit, including on Tuesday at the BRICS Political Party Dialogue.
The ANC said on Wednesday it is relieved that the matter has finally been put to rest, so that developing countries can focus on important issues such as unemployment and poverty.
ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said: “I would like to think that the consultation process undertaken by Ramaphosa with Vladimir Putin must have come to some conclusion about the need to let the summit focus on important issues.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa hinted in court papers that Putin may not even set foot in South Africa.
In a responding affidavit, which he was forced to make public, Ramaphosa urged the high court to toss out the DA’s application seeking to force his hand to arrest Putin if he attends the summit.
According to Ramaphosa, the DA was jumping the gun in seeking relief based on “if” Putin comes to the country.
This, he said, is because: “President Putin is not in South Africa and may in fact never set foot in the Republic.
“A judgment and order of this court at this stage would therefore be purely an academic endeavor – rising no further than an advisory opinion to the DA on the legal position.
“The DA’s application is a pre-emptive strike. No one is being prejudiced by the Republic exercising the remedies it has available to it under the Rome Statute.”
Ramaphosa told the court that he was talking to BRICS member countries’ heads of state on a regular basis in a bid to find a solution to avoiding the implementation of the ICC’s warrant of arrest.
Among other options on the table, confirmed Deputy President Paul Mashatile recently, was to have Putin not come to South Africa but rather attend virtually, if not send a representative to represent him.
This while Moscow was reportedly pushing that Putin attend in person, and Ramaphosa stating that the meeting will be face-to-face for all BRICS heads of state.
Ramaphosa, in his affidavit, also expressed fears that arresting Putin may be a declaration of war against a military superpower, which has publicly dared anyone to touch Putin.
The contentious affidavit was published while the ANC was hosting like-minded political parties from BRICS countries, including the United Russia Party and the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, whose leaders are contributing virtually from Moscow.
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