Brazil’s President Lula withdraws personal assurance Putin will not be arrested if he attends Rio G20 summit
Brazilian President Lula withdraws his personal promise that Putin will not be arrested if he attends the G20 summit in Rio
- President Lula said: ‘It is the judiciary that decides, it is not the government.’
Brazilian President Lula has withdrawn his personal promise that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be arrested if he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Putin missed this year’s meeting in the Indian capital New Delhi, avoiding potential political tensions and any risk of criminal detention under an International Criminal Court (ICC) order.
Brazil is a member of the ICC, but President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has raised eyebrows after telling Indian news network Firstpost: “If I am the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, it is impossible for him to be arrested. ‘
But he changed course earlier today, telling reporters: “I don’t know if the Brazilian justice system will arrest him. It is the judiciary that decides, not the government.’
Putin has skipped recent international meetings and instead sent his Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov to New Delhi for the September 9-10 G20 meeting, even though India is not a signatory of the ICC.
Brazilian President Lula, pictured today at the G20 in New Delhi, has withdrawn his personal assurance that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be arrested when he visits the next G20 in Brazil
Putin, photographed today in Russia’s far eastern region of Primorsky Krai, missed this year’s meeting in the Indian capital New Delhi, avoiding potential political tensions and any risk of criminal detention.
In March, the ICC announced an arrest warrant for Putin on war crimes charges of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children.
The Kremlin denies the accusations and insists that the order against Putin is “null and void.”
On Saturday, G20 countries adopted a statement that avoided condemning Moscow for the war in Ukraine but called on all states not to use force to seize territory.
The next summit is scheduled for November 2024 in Rio de Janeiro and Lula said he hoped “the war will be over by then.”
But he also questioned Brazil’s membership of the war crimes court, adding that “emerging countries often sign things that are harmful to them.”
“I want to know why we are members, but not the United States, not Russia, not India, not China,” Lula said.
“I’m not saying I’m going to leave the court, I just want to know why Brazil is a signatory.”