By Ayo Yusu
Russia’s President, Vladimir Putin, will not attend a well advertised BRICS summit in South Africa next month, according to the country’s presidency.
For weeks Putin’s potential visit has generated serious controversy with the South African leader Cyril Ramaphosa saying any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war against Russia.
However, on Wednesday a statement from the South African presidency described the agreement for Mr. Putin not to attend the summit as “mutual” and said it had come about following a “number of consultations.”
There had been threats that if Mr Putin steps outside the Russian soil, he would be subject to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant. As South Africa is an ICC signatory it would have been expected to help in the Russian President’s arrest.
Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent the country at the two-day summit instead although Mr. Putin will take part in the Brics conference by video link, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said, according to Russian media.
The Brics – an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa -is seen by some as an alternative to the G7 group of advanced economies.
Putin’s invitation to the BRICS summit due to take place in Johannesburg between August 22 and 24, was issued by South Africa before the ICC accused him of war crimes in Ukraine. Since then there has been heated controversy both nationally and internationally about the matter as Pretoria came under heavy pressure not to host him.
It came to be seen as a move by the government to stray from the middle ground it has sought to tread, alongside other African nations, in the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. President Ramaphosa’s government became frantic as threats to arrest President Putin mounted.
The biggest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, even went to court to try to force the authorities to arrest Mr Putin, should he set foot in the country. Global human rights group Amnesty International also lent its voice to the call for the Russian leader’s arrest.
An adamant Mr Ramaphosa was firmly against any such move, as court documents reveal, claiming that the national security was at stake. “Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war. It would be inconsistent with our constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia,” he said in an affidavit.
Although Russia has denied threatening war over any attempt to arrest Mr Putin, the country has consistently described the ICC arrest warrant as outrageous and legally void, because Russia is not a member of the organisation.
Supporters of Russia have criticised the decision to stop Mr Putin from attending the summit, saying South Africa should have insisted and used its sovereignty to protect and defend its friend.
The African continent remains split over the war between Russia and Ukraine, with many of the countries reluctant to back the United Nations’ resolution condemning Russia for its actions in Ukraine.
The reasons for this vary from the search by many African countries for an alternative to the current economic order which is represented by BRICAS to the economic ties that some, including South Africa, have with Moscow.
Although trade with Russia is much smaller than with the United States and Europe, but their ties date back decades to when the Kremlin supported the ruling African National Congress party during the struggle against apartheid.
