South Africa’s presidency announced on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the upcoming summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa, scheduled for August. The decision was made “by mutual agreement” and instead, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will represent the Russian Federation at the summit.
Vincent Magwenya, a spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, released a statement explaining the situation. South Africa faced a dilemma in hosting the summit due to its membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC), which had issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March on charges of alleged war crimes. As a member of the ICC, South Africa theoretically would be required to arrest Putin if he were to attend the summit.
