On March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Kremlin dictator Vladimir Putin. South Africa has said it is aware of its legal obligations.

On March 19, speaking about the planned visit of Putin, said the speaker of the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphos.

South Africa is aware of its legal obligations

The Russian president is expected to visit South Africa in August to attend the BRICS summit, as he did in 2013. However, it should be noted that so far there has been no official confirmation of Putin's visit.

We as a government are aware of our legal obligations. However, until the summit, we will continue to engage with various stakeholders,” said spokesman Vincent Magvenya.

Putin's visit to South Africa would place the Ramaphosa government, which has so far not condemned Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in an uncertain position.

“We take into account the report on the arrest warrant issued by the ISS. South Africa remains committed and very much wants the conflict in Ukraine to be resolved peacefully through negotiations,” concluded Magvenya.

The ISS issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin: briefly

• The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and children's rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. This decision is connected with the illegal deportation of children from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
• The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine handed over to the ISS more than 40 volumes of materials, including on the removal of more than 16,000 children from Kharkiv, Kherson, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. However, this number could be much higher.
• President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky said that this order is a historic moment from which historical responsibility begins.
• In turn, US President Joe Biden stressed that the decision of the ISS regarding Putin is “a very strong argument.”