South Africa warns Kremlin that they will arrest Putin if he flies to BRICS summit

BBC writes about it, citing The Sunday Times, a South African newspaper.

The South African government is reportedly engaged in negotiations with Moscow, urging the Kremlin to reconsider the visit. They have proposed that Putin participate in the BRICS summit via video link instead. The authorities have emphasized that if Putin travels to South Africa, they would be left with no choice but to execute the arrest warrant issued by the ICC in The Hague, which accuses him of war crimes in Ukraine.

A representative of the South African government stated that they “have no option but to arrest Putin”. 

In response to this situation, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has recently established a special government committee to explore potential avenues for issuing an arrest warrant for Putin. 

However, the Sunday Times' source indicates that the committee has not found any viable options at present that would enable Putin to visit South Africa. The only proposed alternative is for Putin to participate remotely in the summit via platforms such as Teams or Zoom from Moscow.

It is worth noting that countries that have signed the Rome Statute are obligated to implement decisions made by the ICC. 

The BRICS summit is scheduled to take place in South Africa in August 2023.

•  On April 26, the Republic of South Africa announced that it would not withdraw from the jurisdiction of the ICC, which had issued the arrest warrant for Putin.