According to RT , the above statement was made by Mr. Khumbudzo Ntshavheni to reporters on June 8.
"The Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council (Dmitry Medvedev) has pointed out that anyone who arrests President Putin will be tantamount to a declaration of war. I don't think our country wants to declare war on Russia," he continued.
Russian President Vladimir Putin - Photo: REUTERS
In mid-March, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child.
The court charged them with “forced displacement,” a reference to Moscow’s efforts to evacuate Ukrainian children from war zones amid its conflict with Ukraine. As a signatory to the 2002 Rome Statute, South Africa is obliged to enforce the order.
However, South Africa will host the BRICS Summit in August this year, where the leaders of the world's largest emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - will meet.
Despite media reports that South Africa had asked China to host the summit, Mr Ntshavheni told reporters that “nothing has changed” and the meeting would still go ahead in Johannesburg as planned.
Mr. Obed Bapela, a deputy minister in the South African presidency, said that his country is studying to enact a new law that would override the ICC's laws. If passed, South Africa would have the right to decide whether or not to arrest someone.
A day before this announcement - on June 7 - President Putin and his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa had a phone call to discuss a number of issues on bilateral cooperation as well as the organization of BRICS and the Second Russia-Africa Summit, scheduled to take place at the end of July in St. Petersburg - Russia, according to TASS news agency.
Source
Comment (0)