Putin will be invited to attend the G20 Summit in Brazil next year.

President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be arrested in Brazil if he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Lula da Silva, speaking to news program Firstpost on the sidelines of the G20 Summit in New Delhi on September 9, said Putin would be invited to attend next year's event hosted by Brazil.

Mr Lula added that he himself planned to attend the BRICS summit scheduled to take place in Russia before the G20 event in Brazil.

“I believe that Mr Putin could easily come to Brazil,” Mr Lula said. “What I can tell you is that if I were the president of Brazil and he came to Brazil, there would be no arrest.”

The issue of the Russian President's foreign travel has been in the spotlight since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin in March on charges of illegally taking hundreds of children from Ukraine - an accusation Moscow has denied.

Mr Putin has skipped a number of international meetings. He attended the BRICS summit in South Africa in August via video link, and was absent from the G20 summit in New Delhi. He was represented by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Like South Africa, Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and is obliged to execute the arrest warrant. President Lula da Silva's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Brazil, under the leadership of its leftist president, is trying to form a group of neutral countries to promote peace talks between Russia and Ukraine.

Earlier in August, Mr. Lula said his country was working for peace in Ukraine, but that neither President Zelensky nor President Putin were “ready” to negotiate .

Minh Duc (According to Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya)

Source: https://www.nguoiduatin.vn/ong-putin-se-duoc-moi-tham-du-thuong-dinh-g20-o-brazil-nam-toi-a625700.html