Stop Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war on Russia, says South African president Cyril Ramaphosa in a document published this Tuesday, in full national debate on the visit of the president at the next BRICS summit.
Putin is invited to the summit of that group of five great emerging powers (South Africa, Brazil, China, India and Russia) scheduled for August 22-24 in Johannesburg. But the Russian president has been the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) since March for the war crime consisting of the “deportation” of Ukrainian children after the invasion, an accusation that the Russian government rejects.
As a member of the ICC, South Africa should theoretically arrest Putin if he enters its territory. A great diplomatic dilemma for the government, which refuses to condemn Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine.
The debate has taken a judicial turn as the main South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA), is trying through the courts to force the government to ensure that Putin is arrested and handed over to the ICC if he steps foot in South Africa. In a statement, Ramaphosa has described the party’s request as “irresponsible”.
“Russia has clearly indicated that any arrest of its sitting president would amount to a declaration of war. It would not be consistent with our constitution to risk embroiling the country in a war with Russia,” he wrote.