The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March for the “illegal transfer” of Ukrainian children. As a signatory to the ICC’s founding treaty, South Africa is in principle obliged to enforce the order.
South Africa is also a member of the BRICS group of emerging economies , which includes Russia, China, India and Brazil. The BRICS summit is scheduled to be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 22 to 24.
Notably, according to AP, the Kremlin has not confirmed that President Putin will attend the BRICS summit. However, according to South African Vice President Paul Mashatile, Mr. Putin is very keen to be present alongside the BRICS leaders. The summit in August is expected to be attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping and other BRICS leaders.
The information was given by Mr. Mashatile in an interview with News24 , South Africa's leading press agency.
Russian President Vladimir Putin answers questions from the media about the grain deal in Moscow on July 13. Photo: AP
Under pressure from some domestic opposition parties and pressures in relations with the United States and other important Western trade and diplomatic partners, South Africa currently does not want President Putin to attend the BRICS summit.
The task of convincing the Kremlin boss was assigned by the South African president to Vice President Mashatile.
"We understand that South Africa is bound by the Rome Statute but we cannot invite someone to our home and arrest them on an ICC warrant. I hope you can understand our dilemma. We would be very happy if President Vladimir Putin did not come to the BRICS summit," the South African vice president told News24 on July 14, stressing that "If Mr. Putin did not come to South Africa, that would be the best solution. However, Moscow is not happy."
South Africa has previously explored other alternatives, including moving the BRICS summit to China, holding it online or Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov attending the summit on behalf of President Putin. "Russia does not agree with all these alternatives," Vice President Mashatile added.
South African Vice President Paul Mashatile. Photo: Gallo Images
Since the ICC issued an arrest warrant, the Russian leader has not yet visited any country that signed the Rome Statute.
AP news agency reported that after failing to convince Mr. Putin, Vice President Mashatile reported the results to President Cyril Ramaphosa. The South African president is expected to try to convince Mr. Putin again when they meet at the Russia-Africa summit held in St. Petersburg, Russia later this month.
South Africa faced a similar problem in 2015. At that time, it did not arrest visiting Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir even though the Sudanese president was wanted by the ICC on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
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