Facing arrest, Russian President Vladimir Putin won't attend BRICS summit in South Africa

New Delhi, July 19

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS summit in South Africa from August 22 to 24 “by mutual agreement”, South Africa’s presidency said on Wednesday.

Neutral stance on ukraine war

South Africa has taken a neutral stance on the Ukraine war and like India, it has refused to back West-piloted resolutions against Russia.

The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa will attend the summit, the presidency said. This means PM Narendra Modi and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be face to face in South Africa. They were together in Uzbekistan in September last year for the Samarkand summit as well as at the G20 summit in Indonesia but did not hold a bilateral meeting.

“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov,” said a spokesperson for President Cyril Ramaphosa.

“Russian President Vladimir Putin has decided to participate in the BRICS summit via video conference. This will be a full-fledged participation. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will attend the summit in person,” said Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.

South Africa was under pressure not to host Putin as he faces an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Despite being a member, South Africa had not arrested then-Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir in 2015 when he arrived for an African leaders’ meeting. A local court had then come down heavily on the government for not measuring up to its obligation to the ICC.