South African Foreign Ministry questions the arrest of Putin in case of his expected arrival at BRICS summit

With Vladimir Putin expected to attend the BRICS summit in August, the South African Foreign Ministry has questioned the situation regarding his arrest.

The authorities of the Republic of South Africa are unlikely to arrest any foreign leader who arrived on their territory, according to Bloomberg, citing two officials from the South African Foreign Ministry.

They allegedly claimed that South Africa’s government is considering all possible ways to avoid the need to execute an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Naledi Pandor, the Foreign Minister of South Africa, announced on Friday, March 24, that the country’s government had already applied for a ‘legal opinion’ on the International Criminal Court arrest warrant that it issued for Vladimir Putin.

“We are concerned about the situation in Ukraine. We would like to be in a position where we can continue to interact between the two countries to call for peace”, she said.

On March 17, the pre-trial chamber of the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin in the case of the illegal removal of children from Ukraine. South Africa recognises the jurisdiction of the ICC and is therefore obliged to enforce its decisions. The concern has arisen because there is a BRICS summit planned in South Africa in August 2023, to which Vladimir Putin has been invited.

Three days after the issuance of a warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin, on March 20, Vincent Magvenia, a spokesman for the President of South Africa, said that the authorities ‘took note’ of this information.

“We, as a government, are aware of our legal obligations”, he added at the time. On March 22, Naledi Pandor announced that South Africa would discuss this issue in the cabinet, as well as with colleagues in Russia, to determine the way forward, as reported by kommersant.ru.

The South African Foreign Ministry confirmed Vladimir Putin’s invitation to the BRICS summit on March 23, despite “some cause for concern”. Pandor said that the current situation casts doubt on the objectivity of the ICC. As Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian President, said on Friday 24, a decision on Vladimir Putin’s trip to South Africa has not yet been made.

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