The representative of the office of the President of South Africa Vincent Magvenia told RIA Novosti that when deciding on the participation of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the BRICS summit, the legal obligations of South Africa under the International Criminal Court (ICC) were taken into account.
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Earlier, the office of the President of South Africa said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not personally attend the BRICS summit on August 22-24, and the Russian Federation would be represented by Foreign Minister Serey Lavrov.
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“South Africa’s commitment to the successful holding of the summit, the historic nature of the upcoming BRICS summit and the recognition of South Africa’s legal obligations under the Rome Statute determined the discussion of Russia’s participation in the summit,” Magvenia said.
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He also added that he does not believe that Putin’s absence from the BRICS summit will interfere with the planned event, because Russia will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
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South Africa is under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose pre-trial chamber on March 17 issued a warrant for the “arrest” of Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. The ICC charges the Russian side, which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, including the alleged “deportation” of children whom the Russian authorities rescued from Ukrainian shelling and took out of the combat zone to safe areas. As the press secretary of the Russian leader Dmitry Peskov stated, raising the ICC question about the “arrest” of the Russian president is unacceptable, Moscow does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, and any of its decisions are null and void from the point of view of law.
BRICS unites Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. A number of other countries intend to join the economic bloc, including Argentina, Iran, and, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt.
