South Africa plans to roll out the red carpet for Russian despot Vladimir Putin, despite an international warrant for his arrest for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
In the latest indication of South Africa’s closer ties with Moscow, Pretoria will welcome the Russian president to the BRICS bloc summit in August.
It comes after the country initially asked Putin to attend the emerging economies summit comprising Russia, South Africa, Brazil, India and China over legal concerns – an invitation the Kremlin turned down.
But now, The times reports that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s deputy heads a commission to examine international and domestic laws, as well as the Rome Statute that established the International Criminal Court.
It was the ICC that issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader in March – a move that Putin denounced as “outrageous.”
South Africa welcomes Russian despot Vladimir Putin (pictured with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa in 2019) despite an international order against him
In the latest indication of South Africa’s closer ties with Moscow, Pretoria will welcome the Russian president to the BRICS bloc summit in August. Pictured: Putin and Ramaphosa in 2019
The ICC called for Putin’s arrest on March 17, accusing the despot of committing war crimes by kidnapping Ukrainian children from their homes and deporting them to Russia to give them to Russian families.
South Africa has so far refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while showing no support for the sanctions imposed on Moscow.
Despite initial legal advice that South Africa was obliged to act on Putin’s arrest warrant, Zane Dangor, the country’s foreign ministry director-general, said: “We have legal advice, but there is still an independent legal advice so that we are sure that the action will be taken.’
South Africa is considered one of Moscow’s closest allies on the continent and says it is impartial and has abstained from voting on UN resolutions on the war.
The news of Putin’s possible trip to South Africa comes after allegations were made from the United States that Pretoria was covertly supplying arms to Moscow – a move that would break his professed neutrality.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov firmly ruled out any indication that Putin would virtually attend the BRICS bloc summit – more than 6,000 miles away.
While Pretoria remains friendly with Putin, the Russian dictator and Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky have both agreed to hold separate meetings with a delegation of African heads of state to discuss a possible plan to end the war in Ukraine, President Ramaphosa said.
South Africa has so far refused to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine while showing no support for sanctions imposed on Moscow
The ICC called for Putin’s arrest on March 17, accusing the despot of committing war crimes by kidnapping Ukrainian children from their homes and deporting them to Russia to give them to Russian families. Pictured: Rescuers remove debris and extinguish the remains of a fire at the site of a rocket attack of the residential building in Uman, Ukraine, April 28
Ramaphosa spoke by phone with his Russian and Ukrainian counterparts over the weekend, a spokesman for his office said earlier this week. They agreed to receive “a peacekeeping mission from African leaders” in Moscow and Kiev respectively.
The leaders of Zambia, Senegal, Congo, Uganda and Egypt plan to join Ramaphosa on the mission, the president said. He added that Mr Putin and Mr Zelensky have given him the green light to ‘start preparations’.
But Ramaphosa’s peace talks come during a visit to Moscow by Lieutenant General Lawrence Mbatha, the chief of the South African army, for “combat readiness” talks.
Irina Filatova, emeritus professor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal and a leading expert on Pretoria-Moscow relations, told The Times that the visit was propaganda by Moscow to show they are not isolated by “helpless Western laws’.
She said that to be an ally of Russia, you must show that you do not accept the laws of the West.
The Ukrainian army said today it has made fresh territorial gains amid heavy fighting around the eastern city of Bakhmut, despite being outmaneuvered and outnumbered by Russian forces.
Kiev has said over the past week that it has stepped up pressure on Moscow’s troops north and south of Bakhmut. Russian mercenaries say they have moved forward in the city, where Kiev has admitted making small progress.
Ukrainian officials have indicated that the advance around Bakhmut is not part of a wider counter-offensive planned by Kiev to push back Russian forces.