Global Courant 2023-05-01 19:57:48
The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court is causing problems for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s participation in the annual summit in South Africa.
The arrest warrant alleges that Vladimir Putin is responsible for war crimes in Ukraine. This means that every country under the jurisdiction of the ICC is obliged to hand over Putin if he steps on their territory.
And South Africa, the country where the Russian leader will attend the 15th BRICS summit, is under the jurisdiction of the ICC.
So what could happen?
Officials ‘trying to persuade Putin not to come’
According to local media, South African officials are trying to persuade the Russian president not to attend in person. The summit is an annual meeting of five major economies – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – known as BRICS.
BRICS is considered a major geopolitical rival of the G7 bloc of major advanced economies, and its members aim to operate on the basis of non-interference and mutual benefit. It is thought that Putin may attend by video conference instead.
A former Kremlin adviser has also predicted that Putin will not fly to South Africa for the summit, but claimed it would not be because of the threat of his arrest. In a message on Telegram, Sergei Markov said that “there is no such threat at all” of Putin’s arrest and that security was “fully negotiated”.
Instead, Markov claimed that there is a “threat of a terrorist attack against Putin by the US and British secret services”.
“Putin flies abroad only over the territories of friendly countries. And on the way to South Africa, you have to fly through many countries from where the American and British intelligence services can organize a terrorist attack,” he said.
Could South Africa withdraw from the ICC?
The president of South Africa has said that his country is looking to withdraw its membership of the ICC.
“The governing party, the African National Congress, has taken the decision that it is prudent that South Africa should withdraw from the ICC, mainly because of the way in which the ICC has been seen to deal with these kinds of problems,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa. in an apparent reference to Putin’s arrest warrant.
The order was issued after Putin had already received his invitation to the BRICS summit in August.
“He has been invited by President Ramaphosa and Russia has indicated participation,” said South Africa’s official in charge of relations with the BRICS countries, Anil Sooklal.
However, the Kremlin has said it will make a decision on Putin’s participation closer to the time. However, even if South Africa may withdraw from the ICC, the process is long and unlikely to be completed by the time of the BRICS summit./ Prepared by Top Channel
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