The South African government has announced that Russia’s president will not attend a BRICS summit in the African country next month.
The announcement comes after South Africa’s president declared that any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war against Russia.
If Mr Putin had left Russian territory, he would have been subject to an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest order.
South Africa is an ICC signatory and is expected to assist in Mr Putin’s arrest.
According to a spokesman for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will instead represent the country at the two-day conference.
The decision to invite Mr Putin to South Africa has sparked outrage in the country. Putin is wanted for war crimes in Ukraine.
The Democratic Alliance, the country’s largest opposition party, had instituted a legal challenge against the government to arrest Mr Putin if he entered the country.
According to court documents, President Ramaphosa was vehemently opposed to such a move, citing national security concerns.
Meanwhile, the Russian government has clarified that it did not tell South Africa that arresting President Vladimir Putin on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) would mean “war”.
Shortly after the Kremlin’s comments, South Africa said that Putin would not attend a summit of the BRICS group of nations in South Africa in August “by mutual agreement.”
The meeting of Brics countries – an acronym for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa – next month is projected as a potential alternative to the G7 group of advanced economies.