Putin not going to BRICS summit in South Africa, Lavrov to lead delegation instead

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not go to South Africa for the August BRICS summit, the South African presidential administration has announced. Instead, the Russian delegation will be led by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

The statement says the decision was made “by mutual agreement” with the Russian side.

South Africa has ratified the Rome Statute, so it is legally obliged to detain Putin on an International Criminal Court warrant and extradite him to The Hague. At the same time, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, responding to the opposition's demand to fulfill its obligations to the ICC, said that Russia had warned that Putin's arrest would be seen as a declaration of war.

Russian presidential spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia had not voiced any threats to the South African authorities over the possible arrest of the Russian president during his participation in the BRICS summit, but warned of the possible consequences.

“No one has made anything clear to anyone. In this world it is absolutely clear to everyone what an attempt to encroach on the Russian head of state means,” Peskov was quoted as saying by Interfax. “So there is no need to explain anything to anyone here.”