Russia has rejected South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s request that his delegation to the BRICS summit in August be led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov instead of President Vladimir Putin. This was stated by the vice president of South Africa, Paul Mashatile, to the local newspaper ‘Mail

On March 17, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian children’s advocate Maria Lvova-Belova for “illegal deportation of children from the occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia.” The ICC does not hold trials in absentia, so it is necessary that Putin was handed over by Moscow or arrested outside of Russia.

“We understand that we are bound by the Rome Statute, but we cannot invite someone and then arrest him. We would be happy if he [Putin] did not come,” Mashatila said.

During this time members of the South African government offered three options for the participation of the Russian delegation. According to the first, Putin would be represented at the summit by the Russian Foreign Ministry; according to the second, Putin would participate in the ‘online’ meeting; according to the third, China will be asked to host the meeting.

The alternatives have been running out. According to Mashatile, India and Brazil opposed the transfer of the summit to China. The vice president added that negotiations on Putin’s presence at the meeting are still ongoing. The Kremlin has not yet confirmed the Russian leader’s attendance at the meeting. South Africa sent an invitation to Putin at the time, and Moscow said it would reply closer to the summit date.

When the arrest warrant was issued, the Russian Foreign Ministry called the court’s decision “insignificant, provocative and categorically unacceptable.” The deputy head of the department, Sergei Ryabkov, expressed from the beginning his confidence that South Africa would grant Putin immunity during the BRICS summit. South African authorities promised in May that the summit participants would have diplomatic immunity. In March the country’s authorities were considering “all options to avoid the execution of the order,” Bloomberg reported.

But the problem is that South Africa has ratified the Rome Statute (the founding document of the ICC) and recognizes its jurisdiction. The office of the head of state affirmed that the country was not going to abandon the jurisdiction of the CFI.

The BRICS Summit will be the first face-to-face meeting of leaders within the organization since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. It will be held at the Sandton Convention Center in Sandton, Johannesburg, from August 22-24. Putin attended the summit in South Africa in person in 2013.

123 states are members of the CFI, among which are the countries of Europe, South America and about half of the countries of Africa. Russia, Ukraine, the United States, China, Turkey, India and others have not ratified the Rome Statute. The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, has urged the South African authorities to “do the right thing” in case the Russian president travels to Johannesburg. “South Africa has suffered from a crime against humanity for decades, the crime of apartheid, I don’t think they need lessons from me.”

During a speech in Parliament in early May, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola hinted that the South African government might refer to the country’s legislation that allows exceptions for reasons of national security. But at the same time, the country is afraid of spoiling some trade agreements with the US (one of them expires in 2025 and may not be renewed) if it ignores an arrest warrant that the Joe Biden government, despite not being a signatory to the treaty, He has supported. Walking along that razor’s edge, the country has stumbled several times. President Ramaphosa, during the visit of the Norwegian president, announced that South Africa was withdrawing from the ICC, but was later forced to take back his words saying that it had been a mistake.

Washington has redoubled its efforts in recent months to strengthen ties with Africa, where it worries about the growing influence of Russia and China. Moscow has reaped some results: many African countries decided not to vote on a United Nations resolution condemning the invasion of Ukraine.

South Africa does not forget the support of the Soviet Union for the resistance against the ‘apartheid’ regime. Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022, South Africa has taken a neutral position, refusing to join calls to condemn Moscow.

President Ramaphosa leads an African group seeking to mediate in the conflict, which he says “has a negative impact on the African continent.” The African Development Bank estimates that the war is directly responsible for the shortage of around 30 million tons of cereals on the continent. The African delegation has maintained contacts with the governments of Moscow and kyiv, so far without results. The Russian invasion “must be resolved through negotiations and diplomatic means,” Ramaphosa said when received by Putin in Saint Petersburg last June.

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