The press secretary of the President of the Republic of South Africa, Vincent Magwenya, commented on the possible arrest of Russian President Putin during his visit to the BRICS summit in this country.

He said that the government of South Africa "is mindful of its legal obligations" related to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The statement of the spokesperson of the President of South Africa is quoted by Reuters.

"We, as the government, are aware of our legal obligations.

However, until the (BRICS, - TSN.ua) summit, we will continue to interact with various relevant stakeholders," Magwenya said.

The president's press secretary also said that South Africa "takes note of the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court," adding that the government of his country expresses its strong desire that "the conflict in Ukraine be settled peacefully through negotiations."

Russian President Vladimir Putin previously confirmed his participation in the BRICS summit with the participation of the leaders of Brazil, the Russian Federation, India, China and South Africa.

Since the Republic of South Africa has ratified the Rome Statute of the ICC, it has a legal obligation to ensure the execution of the warrant for Putin's arrest.

However, in this situation, the story of another dictator, Sudanese leader Omar al-Bashir, against whom the ICC issued a warrant in 2009, may repeat itself.

Like Russia, Sudan also did not ratify the Rome Statute, so al-Bashir was not too concerned about it.  

During his visit to South Africa for the 2015 African Union summit, a local court ruled that the Sudanese leader is barred from leaving the country pending a decision on whether to satisfy the ICC warrant.

When the court session began, al-Bashir simply did not attend.

It turned out that the dictator flew home after participating in the summit and no one stopped him.

Sudan managed to arrest the dictator only after the coup in this country in 2019, but he did not get to The Hague, because the national justice must first pass his sentence on the 79-year-old ex-president of the country.

It will be recalled that on March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children's Rights of the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova for committing a war crime - the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children. 

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