South Africa has maintained its stand to host the BRICS bloc summit scheduled for August even when it is believed that China might host the summit so as to make it viable for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin to attend the event as the Asian country is not bound to arrest him for war crimes.
South Africa has a duty as a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC) to arrest Putin if he attends the talks between the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China, due to an arrest warrant over the deportation of children from Ukraine. However, Putin refutes the war crime accusations against him.
Putin and Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa, met in Russia on June 17. Russia is a strong ally of African National Congress (ANC) ever since it had been a liberation movement fighting strongly against the rules of white western rule long time back.
“South Africa will host the 15th BRICS Summit at the Sandton Convention Centre in Sandton, Johannesburg, from 22 to 24 August 2023,” the Department of International Relations said in a statement.
Spokesman of the South African President, Vincent Magwenya, stated that the entire summit, along with the meeting of the BRICS heads of state would be held in South Africa. However, he did not confirm whether Putin will attend the BRICS Summit. Also, some South African officials commented end of May that the member countries were contemplating changing the host country to China as it is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the organization which made war allegations against Russia. So the change of venue can take place even at the last moment.
Putin has not yet responded to an invitation that was made before the ICC charged him on March 18, according to South Africa’s Minister of International Relations, Naledi Pandor, who stated this on Tuesday.
According to Pandor, the leader of China, Xi Jinping, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, all want to attend the summit.
Despite claiming to remain impartial in the Ukraine war, South Africa has come under fire from the West for its close ties to Russia, including hosting Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and participating in joint naval drills.
