APA-Pretoria (South Africa) President Cyril Ramaphosa has warned that any attempt to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine when he comes to South Africa next month for the BRICS summit will be a declaration of war against Russia.
The president said this in an affidavit submitted before a court of law in June but made public on Tuesday.
Putin, who has been invited to the BRICS summit in Johannesburg in August and granted diplomatic immunity alongside four other leaders attending the event, was in March charged by the International Court of Justice (ICC) with an alleged war crime for his role in deporting 30,000 Ukrainian children to Russia.
Consequently, a warrant for his arrest was issued out to all ICC member states – including South Africa.
According to the affidavit, the president submitted that Russia had made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war.
“And this would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia,” the president said in the affidavit.
Ramaphosa said South Africa was one of several African nations holding talks with Russia and Ukraine aimed at ending the war altogether.
Any attempt to arrest Putin would be counter-productive, and this would go against his duty to protect the country, he added.
South Africa, a signatory to the Rome Treaty that set up the ICC, is obliged to arrest Putin to fulfil its commitment as an ICC member state when Putin steps foot in the country for the Brics summit.
However, Pretoria has shown reluctance to do so as Ramaphosa warns enacting the arrest could threaten the security, peace and order of the state.
Meanwhile, the Kremlin has yet to confirm if Putin would attend the summit.
NM/jn/APA