Vladimir Putin could be able to fly to Johannesburg for the BRICS summit without worrying that the nation will act on an arrest order issued by an international criminal court. South Africa has granted general diplomatic immunity to all leaders attending a summit in August.
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa are members of the economic and political organisation known as BRICS.
Due to the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, there have been rumours about whether or not he will attend this year’s summit in person.
Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official reportedly in charge of organizing the forcible deportations of tens of thousands of Ukrainian kids to Russian territory, both have arrest warrants issued by the ICC as of March 17.
As one of the 123 nations signatory to the Rome Statute, South Africa is required to carry out arrest warrants issued by the ICC.
Diplomatic immunity would be granted to the attendees of the official summit meeting with heads of state to be held from August 22–24 in Johannesburg and the ministerial meeting to be held from June 1-2 in Cape Town, according to a government notice posted to the South African government website on May 29 and signed by Foreign Minister Grace Naledi.
The South African Foreign Ministry then announced on May 30 that it will offer diplomatic immunity to participants at the next BRICS summit. The statement claimed that this was a “standard” procedure intended “for the conference and not for specific individuals.”
According to a statement made public by the South African Foreign Ministry, “these (intended diplomatic) immunities do not override any warrant that may have been issued against any conference attendee by any international tribunal.”
It is still unclear if Putin would be ready to save South Africa’s diplomatic situation by forgoing an in-person appearance. On Tuesday, the Kremlin announced that Russia would participate at the “appropriate level.” Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister, is already scheduled to attend the planning session.
The G7 club of western developed nations is increasingly perceived as having competition from the Brics group of large emerging economies.
