BRICS: Putin will not attend summit in South Africa.
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T he South African presidency has announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the BRICS summit in South Africa next month. This is coming few weeks after some political figures in south Africa like Julius Malema came out authoritatively telling the international community that Putin will be welcome to South Africa and no body was going to force South Africa to arrest him. The decision not to attend the summit is related to a challenge faced by South Africa as a host country, being a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC had issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March, accusing Russia of war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine. If Putin had participated in the summit, South Africa would have been bound to execute the warrant and arrest him. As a result, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Putin at the summit scheduled to be held in Johannesburg from August 22 to 24, 2023. The BRICS summit is an annual event th...