South Africa is expecting Putin in August despite obligation to extradite him to The Hague

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that he is expecting Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the BRICS summit in August, despite the country's obligation to arrest him and hand him over to the International Criminal Court.

Source: Ramaphosa on Friday in Kyiv after the African leaders’ meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy

Details: According to the South African leader, they are "expecting Putin's arrival" and will discuss his visit for the BRICS summit during a bilateral meeting in Moscow on Saturday.

Quote: "This issue is still being discussed and considered... I have already said in South Africa and on other platforms that I will have to make decisions and announce how this BRICS summit will be held. And that is exactly what we will do."

More details: BRICS, an informal grouping of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is due to hold a summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, in August.

However, South Africa has ratified the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, which issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March 2023 for his involvement in the mass deportation of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories.

This put South Africa in a delicate position, as the Rome Statute obliges the parties to arrest anyone against whom a warrant has been issued. Most Western signatories have already confirmed that they will do so.

In addition, Ramaphosa said back in March that South Africa should withdraw from the International Criminal Court, although later his office said it was a mistake.

This is not the first attempt by South Africa to withdraw from the ICC. The country tried to do so in 2016 after it ignored an arrest warrant for former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2015. 

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