“Putin Might Be Arrested If He Attends BRICS Summit In South Africa”

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A Ukrainian Nobel Peace Prize winner on Wednesday called on South Africa not to allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend a Brics summit in the country in August.

Oleksandra Romantsova, the head of an NGO that won Ukraine’s first ever Nobel Peace Prize last year, urged the government to “show us that they care”.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March which means that South Africa, due to host the Brics summit this year, would have to detain him on arrival.

“For us South Africa is a place where people are fighting for freedom, for equality for dignity,” Romantsova, who was in South Africa to garner support for Ukraine, told a media briefing in Johannesburg.

If Putin were to come here and not be arrested it would “be a great disappointment”, she said.

The ICC warrant against Putin stems from accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.

Romantsova, director of the Kyiv-based Centre for Civil Liberties (CCL), suggested the Russian president could attend the summit via Zoom – or send a minister who is not wanted by the ICC.

CCL, which has run successful campaigns for political prisoners, tracked enforced disappearances and highlighted Russian war crimes, shared the peace prize with Belarusian and Russian co-winners last year.

South Africa has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine, saying it wanted to stay neutral and preferred dialogue to end the war.

Earlier this year, it held a controversial joint military exercise with Russia and China, which critics cite as evidence of a tilt towards the Kremlin.

Romantsova, who came to South Africa as part of a delegation of academics and non-profit organisations, met with senior officials at the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, but was given the cold shoulder by the ANC.

“We are trying to meet [the ANC] and for me it’s surprising that it’s so difficult to organise such a meeting,” said Olexiy Haran, another member of the delegation and a politics professor at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.

Source News24