RIGA, Latvia — Russian President Vladimir Putin, facing an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, will not attend next month’s summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa “by mutual agreement,” South Africa’s presidential administration said Wednesday.
The ICC, based in The Hague, has accused Putin of war crimes over his role in the abduction and forced transport of Ukrainian children to Russian-controlled territory. The arrest warrant, issued in March, has significantly curbed the Russian leader’s ability to travel internationally.Despite that, the Kremlin had pressured South Africa to ignore the warrant or to find a workaround solution that would have allowed Putin to attend the summit.
This week, Ramaphosa said that Moscow had made it clear to his office that Putin’s arrest would “be a declaration of war against Russia.” “The ICC itself has expressed concern over Russia’s nuclear threat, following the arrest warrant. South Africa has no capacity to declare or wage war with Russia. Nor does it wish to,” the president said.