BRICS set to defy West, to host Putin in S Africa

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Dikshit

New Delhi, June 3

The BRICS Foreign Ministers are understood to have decided to stand by the original decision of holding the summit meeting in South Africa despite an ICC arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin. The five ministers were also buoyed by the presence of at least 15 Foreign Ministers from Africa, the Global South, and Friends of BRICS nations and applications for membership submitted by at least 20 countries.

Earlier there was talk of shifting the BRICS Summit to China, which is not a member of the ICC. Unlike South Africa, which is an ICC member, China has not signed its covenant and is thus not obliged to arrest Putin if he lands there.

The resolve to hold the summit in South Africa was strengthened by the unequivocal support from its ruling party — African National Congress (ANC). “Putin is the head of a state, do you think that a head of state can just be arrested anywhere? How many criminal activities has your country committed in Iraq? How many have you arrested for crime in Afghanistan and Libya?’’ asked ANC secretary seneral Fikile Mbalula, when a reporter asked him about the arrest warrant against Putin.

Sources said most of these countries were more interested in taking advantage of the economic rise of BRICS and cold towards the western geostrategic ploy of marginalising China and Russia. Already, the cumulative GDP of BRICS has surpassed that of G7 in purchasing power parity terms. The collective GDP of the G7 was 30.39 per cent and BRICS was slightly ahead with 31.59 per cent. If Putin does arrive in August, South Africa will defy the ICC for the second time after 2015, when it had refused to execute an ICC arrest warrant for then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir. However, a local court had later said the decision was an error. The same possibility has arisen after the opposition Democratic Alliance Party said it had filed a court case to ensure the government detains Putin, should he arrive in South Africa.

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