Russia’s president Vladimir Putin will not be attending a summit in South Africa scheduled to hold in August, according to the South African presidency.
This announcement is following the proclamation by the South African leader saying that any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war against Russia.
Reports have stated that if Putin had stepped foot out of Russian soil, he would have been subject to an International Criminal Court, ICC, arrest warrant.
Let’s not forget that South Africa is an ICC signatory and is expected to help arrest Putin.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov has been selected to represent the country at the two-day summit instead.
But Putin will take part in the Brics ( Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) conference via a video link, according to Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov.
Several political analysts have compared Brics to the G7 group, with several remarking that it is an alternative to advanced economics.
The South African presidency had in a statement, commented that the Putin’s decision to not attend the summit had come about after several consultations on the summit had been held.
Meanwhile, Russian supporters have criticised the decision, stating that South Africa should have been firm and used its sovereignty to defend its friend.
Recall that South Africa had invited the Russian leader to the August summit before the ICC had accused Putin of war crimes in Ukraine.
This development has stirred controversy both in the country and internationally.
South Africa’s main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, had already gone to court in an attempt to force the authorities to arrest Vladimir Putin, should appear in the country.
However, court documents have disclosed that Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African President had been resolute against such a move, citing national security risks.
The Russian has consistently tagged the ICC arrest warrant as shovking and lawfully void as the country had not been a member of the organisation.
Meanwhile, Africa remains divided over the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, with a few countries displaying reluctance to side with the United Nations’, UN, in censuring Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
The reasons for this reluctance vary from nation to nation but experts reckon that one of the factor could be the economic ties that some of those countries (South Africa included) share with Moscow.
Viktor Vekselberg, a penalized Russian oligarch has been reported to be one of the largest donors to South Africa’s African National Congress (ANC), the ruling political party in the country.
