Visit and we have to arrest you, Pretoria warns Putin
Pretoria to ask Putin to attend a summit via Zoom due to legal obligations to arrest the Russian leader amid his indictment for war crimes.
President Putin will be asked by South Africa to attend a summit via Zoom rather than in person after Pretoria sought advice about its obligations to arrest the Russian leader who has been indicted for war crimes.
Putin was invited to a gathering of the heads of five emerging economies - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - to present a plan for expansion and how they can rival the West.
Pretoria has refused to support sanctions against Russia or condemn its aggression in Ukraine but the recent issuing of an arrest warrant for Putin by the International Criminal Court, for the alleged forcible deportation of Ukrainian children, leaves South Africa’s governing party in an awkward position over the invitation to Johannesburg. President Ramaphosa said last week that his African National Congress party wanted to end membership of the ICC, a statement on which he quickly backtracked but which reflected the government’s dilemma. The foreign ministry was advised that ignoring the warrant would breach international obligations and national laws.
South Africa’s failure to arrest Omar al-Bashir, then leader of Sudan, during a visit in 2016 was ruled unconstitutional by the country’s most senior judges.
“If [Putin] comes here, we have to arrest him. The only option we have is for him to connect via Teams or Zoom from Moscow,” a senior official who has seen the advice told the South African Sunday Times.
South Africa recently hosted Moscow’s foreign minister and war ships from Russia and China for joint naval exercises off its coast.
The Times
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