2023-07-22T12:52:00+03:00 Politics 2024-09-15T05:16:17+03:00

Ukrainian news

South African government formally applies for Putin arrest warrant

South African government formally applies for Putin arrest warrant

The South African Ministry of Justice has sent a formal request to the director of the state prosecutor's office for a warrant for the arrest of the president of the terrorist country of Russia Vladimir Putin, whom the International Criminal Court in The Hague suspects of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

Earlier this week, Ukrainian News Agency reported that Putin would not come to South Africa in August for the BRICS summit.

The request for an arrest warrant became known on Friday at a court hearing in Pretoria, according to the local News24. Two months ago, the Department of International Relations of South Africa handed to the Ministry of Justice of the country the ICC arrest warrant for Putin, who is accused of involvement in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. However, the Ministry of Justice did not take any action at that time - the country's authorities continued negotiations on Putin's possible participation in the BRICS summit, which will be held in August in Johannesburg. The Democratic Alliance demanded that the authorities issue a national arrest warrant for Putin in case of appearance on the territory of South Africa.

During the trial, it became known that the authorities, in fact, agreed with the implementation of this requirement and admitted that they had delayed in fulfilling their obligations.

During the trial, it also became known that South African President Cyril Ramaposa on June 19 asked Putin not to come to the BRICS summit, to which Putin replied that he would "think." A few days later, Ramaposa discussed the possibility of Putin's participation in a summit with Brazilian President Lula da Silva, and he agreed that the Russian president should not come to South Africa. After discussions involving the leaders of China and India, an agreement was reached that the Russian leader would not come to Johannesburg. The South African authorities did not explicitly say that Putin would be arrested after his arrival, but made it clear that they had obligations to the ICC. Moscow said that Putin will take part in the summit via video link, and the Russian delegation to South Africa will be headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.

Earlier, Matamela Cyril Ramaphosa, president of South Africa, claimed that Russian authorities warned him that Putin's possible arrest would be regarded as a declaration of war. The Kremlin denied this.