South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is facing pressure to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes if he attends the upcoming BRICS summit in August 2023.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March, and as a member of the ICC, South Africa is obligated to hand him over to investigators.
In response, a South African government official has stated that if Putin attends the summit, he will be arrested.
However, South Africa has urged Putin to join the meeting via Zoom instead.
Last week, Ramaphosa appointed a special government committee to study Putin’s international arrest warrant.
The committee has reportedly found no options that would allow Putin to attend in person, stating that the only option available is for Putin to participate via Teams or Zoom from Moscow.
South Africa’s Presidency has also confirmed that the country has no plans to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC, denying Ramaphosa’s previous comments about considering exiting its membership.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Children’s Ombudsperson Maria Lvova-Belova on March 17 for allegedly illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia since February 2022.
Putin may be arrested in 123 countries that have ratified the Rome Statute, including South Africa.
The Kremlin has not yet decided whether Putin will attend the August summit, which is scheduled to include members from Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.
