Russian President Vladimir Putin has pulled out of the upcoming summit of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) nations in Johannesburg, South Africa, as the prospect of his potential arrest loomed.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a statement on Wednesday that Putin's decision not to attend August's event was made "by mutual agreement." Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will go in his place, the statement said.
There had been growing speculation about whether Putin could be arrested next month during the diplomatic summit in Johannesburg, with South Africa obliged to carry out a March arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The Russian leader is accused by the ICC of the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. All ICC states—including South Africa—are legally required to arrest Putin if he steps foot on their territory, the Center for European Policy Analysis has noted.
Russia has maintained that the ICC's arrest warrant, issued on March 17, is legally void as it isn't a member state.
Newsweek has contacted Russia's Foreign Ministry via email for comment.
The ICC lacks its own police force and is dependent on its 123 member states to use their national law enforcement agencies to enforce its arrest warrants—something that hasn't always played out in the past. Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has two arrest warrants from the ICC dating back to 2009 and 2010. Despite having visited ICC member states since then, he remains at large.
In a 32-page court affidavit made public on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said his country would risk war with Russia if it arrested Putin at the BRICS summit.
Russia "has made it clear" that arresting its president "would be a declaration of war," Ramaphosa said.
"It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia," the South African president wrote. "An act that would be perceived as a declaration of war by Russia would be reckless."
The ICC's chief prosecutor Karim Khan said in March that his office had identified "at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children's care homes" for deportation.
The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. According to the court, she and Putin are personally responsible for the forced deportation of children from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia.
However, Moscow does not recognize the ICC's jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.
Update 07/19/23, 9:38 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional background information.
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Isabel van Brugen is a Newsweek Reporter based in Kuala Lumpur. Her focus is reporting on the Russia-Ukraine war. Isabel ... Read more
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