Vladimir Putin assessed that his possible presence at the G20 summit in Brazil could disrupt the important work carried out there – therefore, someone else would represent Moscow there.
Leader Russia Vladimir Putin announced on Friday that he would not go to the summit of countries G20 groupwhich will take place on November 18-19 in Brazil. He explained that Russia would be represented there by someone else.
According to Putin, his presence at the summit “would disrupt the important work that is to take place there.”
Ukraine called on Brazil to arrest the Russian leader if he appears at the G20 summit. Putin on Friday stressed that he was not afraid of detention because Russia could, if necessary, sign a bilateral agreement with Brazil to bypass the order of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Vladimir PutinMIKHAIL METZEL/PAP/EPA
Putin with an arrest warrant
In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian children's rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova for war crimes committed in Ukraine. The judges agreed to the prosecutor's request, finding that there are real grounds to believe that Putin and Lviv-Belov are responsible for the crimes of illegally deporting children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
On Thursday, the ambassador USA Global Justice Beth Van Schaack said that if she were Putin, she would be careful when traveling to ICC member states because they have independent courts.
– If I were Putin, if I was a lawyer advising Putin, I would tell him to be very careful when traveling to ICC countries because they have independent judicial entities, they have independent police and lawyers, they have active members of civil society – they can exploit the legal system, to potentially force him to act under these cooperation obligations under the Rome Statute, Van Schaack said.
This is not the first time Putin has resigned from a trip to a country belonging to the ICC. The Russian dictator did not go to the president's inauguration Mexico Claudia Sheinbaum and the BRICS summit in South Africa.
Main photo source: MIKHAIL METZEL/PAP/EPA