Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend BRICS summit by mutual agreement: South Africa

South Africa’s presidency said on Wednesday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa in August by mutual agreement.

Vincent Magwenya, a spokesman for President Cyril Ramaphosa, said in a statement that Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Mr Sergey Lavrov.

South Africa faced a dilemma in hosting the summit because a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March for alleged war crimes. It would theoretically be required to arrest him if he were to attend.

The dilemma led to intense debate in South Africa and the West about whether the warrant would be executed, given South Africa’s stance of neutrality on the war in Ukraine and Pretoria’s historic ties to the Kremlin. The leaders of Brazil, India and South Africa will attend the summit, the presidency said.

BRICS, a bloc of emerging economic powers comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China was formed in 2019 as BRIC. South Africa joined the following year after an invitation from China, expanding the group.