Putin to Participate in the BRICS Summit by Videoconference

On Wednesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitri Peskov announced that President Vladimir Putin will participate by videoconference in the summit of the BRICS countries, a forum for economic cooperation led by Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

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Earlier, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that Foreign Affairs Minister Sergei Lavrov will represent Russia at the BRICS summit to be held from August 22 in Johannesburg.

In March, South Africa invited the Russian president to participate in the high-level meeting despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Vladimir Putin, who is being accused of alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

As a member of the ICC, South Africa is obliged to cooperate in Putin's arrest. However, his authorities had avoided revealing how they would proceed specifically if the Russian leader landed on their territory.

Ramaphosa refused to arrest Putin because that would be like a "declaration of war" against Russia, said the Gauteng High Court of South Africa, a country that has adopted a neutral stance in the Ukrainian conflict.

Brazil, Russia, India and China formed the BRIC group in 2006, with South Africa joining in 2010, adding the letter 'S' to the acronym. The Johannesburg Summit will be the first high-level meeting that the BRICS leaders hold in person since the COVID19 pandemic.

Over the last year, the interest of nations in belonging to this economic bloc has increased markedly as the United States continues with a foreign policy based on arbitrary sanctions.

Among the countries that want to join the BRICS alliance are Afghanistan, Algeria, Argentina, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Belarus, Egypt, Indonesia, Iran, Kazakhstan, Mexico, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sudan, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uruguay, Venezuela, and Zimbabwe.