South Africa: BRICS Foreign Ministers Meet in Cape Town As Questions Mount About Putin's Possible Visit

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Flags of Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa - member countries of Brics (file photo).
31 May 2023
Daily Maverick (Johannesburg)
analysis By Peter Fabricius

Can Pretoria legally grant Russian President Vladimir Putin immunity from ICC arrest in time for the BRICS summit in August?

The foreign ministers of BRICS meet in Cape Town on Thursday to prepare for their August summit in Durban amid growing speculation and uncertainty about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the summit.

When the five foreign ministers from South Africa, Russia, Brazil, China and India meet in Cape Town, they will be joined, virtually, by their counterparts from the "Friends of BRICS" -- a sign of growing interest from Global South countries in joining this bloc. This new interest has partly been inspired by the growing polarisation between the West and Russia/China over Russia's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February last year.

The foreign ministers of Iran, Cuba, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Comoros, Gabon, Argentina, Bangladesh and Egypt are all due to address the meeting by video.

Who to admit as new members will be one of the main agenda items at the foreign ministers' meeting and the summit. But the foreign ministers are also likely to discuss what to do about Putin.

In March this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant for the arrest of Putin for his alleged complicity in the war crime of abducting Ukrainian...

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