South African authorities explore legal options to resolve Putin’s visit to BRICS summit

CAPE TOWN (South Africa), 1 June – RIA Novosti. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said that South African officials are working on legal options to resolve the issue of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, with the final decision to be announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. .

The BRICS summit will be held in South Africa in August. Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, had previously announced that the Russian leader had been invited to the summit.

“As we have said many times, the South African authorities are currently investigating what legal options are available to resolve this situation. But I think it is best to consult the president on this matter. Our obligations[to the ICC]are clear, Naledi Pandor told reporters in Cape Town, “But we don’t run from the answer. The President will announce our final decision. Leaders of all five countries were invited to the summit, the invitations remain valid.

Earlier, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Africa announced the guarantee of diplomatic immunity to the participants of the ministerial meeting in June and the BRICS summit in August in the country. The Ministry also pointed out that this immunity does not apply to orders given by international courts.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had previously said that republican officials would consider withdrawing from the ICC in line with the ruling African National Congress party’s decision. Later, the words of Ramaphosa during his presidency and the statement made by the African National Congress, the ruling party, on this occasion were described as “false”.

The preliminary hearing chamber of the ICC, whose jurisdiction Russia does not recognize, issued an “arrest” warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on March 17. The ICC accuses the Russian side, among other things, of the so-called “deportation” of children, which the Russian authorities rescued from the Ukrainian bombing and took them from the conflict zone to safe zones. According to Dmitry Peskov, the press secretary of the Russian leader, it is unacceptable for the ICC to raise the issue of the “arrest” of the Russian president, Moscow does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and none of its decisions are invalid. viewpoint of law.

Maria Zakharova, the official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, previously stated that the ICC has a limited structure, and that it is a third-party structure for the UN that many states do not participate in. The jurisdiction of the ICC is not recognized by countries where more than half of the world’s population lives. These include Russia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, China, Saudi Arabia, USA, Turkey. Zakharova also noted that the highest officials of the states are exempt from the decisions of the ICC and that Russia has never been a member of it and will not cooperate with it, that its actions against the Russian Federation are “legally invalid”.