Russia dictator Vladimir Putin will not attend the BRICS Group summit, which will be held in Brazil on July 6 and 7, for fearing being arrested by order of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine, Kremlin said on Wednesday (25).
Putin’s absence “is related to certain difficulties in the scope of ICU,” said at a Yuri Ushakov press conference, an international advisor to Kremlin, alluding to the arrest order issued in March 2023 against the Russian leader for the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
Ushakov added that “the Brazilian government failed to maintain a firm position that would allow our president to attend this meeting.”
“The president will participate for video conferencing. In Brazil will be the Minister of Foreign Affairs,” Sergei Lavrov, detailed Ushakov about the event in which the dictator of China, Xi Jinping, due to a “agenda conflict” will not be present.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva also invited Putin in December 2023 to participate in the G20 summit which was held in 2024 in Rio de Janeiro. However, he explained later that the Russian dictator would have to “face the consequences” of the arrest warrant issued against him by the ICC.
Lula, who remembered at the time that Brazil is a founding member of the ICC, added that it was up to the Brazilian court to decide whether Putin would be arrested or not.
The Kremlin head traveled in September 2024 to Mongolia, on his first visit to a TPI member state since the agency issued the order against him. Despite the express request of the TPI to Mongolia, which signed the treaty in 2000 and ratified it in 2002, the Mongolian authorities did not arrest Putin.
Russia and Ukraine approached the possible return of Ukrainian children transferred to Russian territory during the second round of negotiations held in June in Istanbul, Turkey.
Putin will do his first trip abroad on Thursday in 2025, while in the last two years he has been in China, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia and several Soviet Republics.
Lula could not attend the BRICS summit held in October 2024 in the Russian city of Kazan after having a domestic accident, although he traveled in May to Moscow to participate in the celebrations of the 80th anniversary of the Red Army victory over Nazi Germany.
