Russian President Vladimir Putin will not participate in person in the BRICS summit, scheduled for July 6 and 7 in Rio de Janeiro. The decision was announced on Wednesday (25) by Kremlin’s foreign policy advisor, Yuri Ushakov. According to him, the absence of a clear position of the Brazilian government regarding the fulfillment of an arrest warrant issued against Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC) was decisive for the choice.
According to Ushakov, the Brazilian government did not provide guarantees on how it would deal with the arrest warrant issued in 2023. The document was issued by the ICC just over a year after the start of the war in Ukraine, accusing Putin of war crimes related to the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian territory. Although Brazil is a signatory to the Treaty establishing the Court, the decision to comply with or not the warrant depends on the executive’s internal evaluation.
Russia, in turn, denies the accusations, does not recognize the legitimacy of the court and considers the warrant “null and void.” However, Kremlin recognizes the risk of arrest if Putin enter the territory of TPI signatory countries, such as Brazil. Given this possibility, the Russian President chose not to physically appear to meet – as he had already done in 2023, when he missed the BRICS summit in South Africa.
Putin will participate in the summit by video conferencing. The Russian delegation will be headed in person by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov. According to the Chinese press, President Xi Jinping should also not attend the event in person in Brazil.
