Russian President Putin to skip BRICS summit, India, China among others to participate, announces South African President

South Africa is a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC and would have been obliged under that to arrest Putin, although the country had given strong hints that it would have likely not executed the arrest warrant.

New Delhi: South Africa on Wednesday confirmed that Russian President Vladamir Putin will not attend the 15th BRICS summit slated to be held on August 22-24 in Johannesburg. This comes after months of speculation about whether the Russian leader would visit South Africa while under an international arrest warrant.

According to sources, South Africa has not condemned Russia's invasion of Ukraine and was in a dilemma in hosting Russian President Putin, who is wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the illegal deportations of Ukrainian children.

A statement issued by South Africa's Presidential office said, "President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed South Africa’s readiness to host the historic 15th Summit of BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa. It will be the first BRICS Summit to be hosted in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global restrictions".

President Ramaphosa has in recent months and weeks held several consultations on the hosting of the Summit. The President’s most recent consultation in this regard took place last night, Tuesday, 18 July at the BRICS Political Party Dialogue in Gauteng. The Summit will be attended by the leaders of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa.

"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", it added. In due course, a comprehensive statement on the substantive issues to be covered at the Summit and other related foreign policy matters will be issued.

"President Ramaphosa is confident that the Summit will be a success and calls on the nation to extend the necessary hospitality to the many delegates who will arrive from various parts of the continent and the globe", the statement from the presidential office read.

Meanwhile, ahead of the August Summit, South Africa will host the BRICS foreign ministers meeting virtually on Thursday, 20 July evening. The meeting is aimed at expanding the economic grouping, with as many as 19 countries expressing interest in joining, from Argentina to Iran, Saudi Arabia to Egypt. However, the question remains whether Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang will be attending the meeting, given he has been missing for weeks now.