Rio de Janeiro hosts, on July 6 and 7, the 2025 BRICS summit meeting, the most important meeting of the bloc this year. Heads of state, chancels, as well as UN Secretary-General António Guterres will be present. In the missing list, a name draws attention: Vladimir Putin.
According to Kremlin, Putin will not go to Rio de Janeiro due to the absence of a clear position of Brazil about the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against the Russian President.
Without face -to -face participation, the agent will participate in the meeting remotely through a video conferencing.
In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin and Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, a commissioner for the rights of the child of Russia, for the crime of kidnapping war of more than 19,000 Ukrainian children, who were sent to orphanages or delivered for adoption by strange families in Russia.
“Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on October 7, 1952, president of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the illegal deportation war crime (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) of occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the statement of conviction said.
Russia claims that the decision “has no meaning”.
“The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,” said Maria Zakharova, a spokesman for Russian diplomacy.
The last time Putin was in Brazil was in 2019 when he met with former President Jair Messias Bolsonaro (PL) at the Planalto Palace. The meeting took place after the 11th BRICS summit meeting.
See also:
- Mass Roofs of Children in War: Why Putin must be arrested if he comes to BRICS in Brazil
- Without Xi Jinping and Putin, BRICS Summit will not have the relevance that the Lula government wanted
Brazilian government would have to arrest Putin if I came to Rio de Janeiro
Putin’s coming to Rio de Janeiro for the dome meeting would imply the obligation of the Brazilian State to arrest him when he landed in the national territory.
The ICC stated in a note sent last month to Gazeta do Povo that Member States such as Brazil has a legal obligation to arrest authorities or persons who have been open to the Court. The statement was made without directly citing the name of the Russian dictator.
President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (PT) said last month that Putin was invited to participate in the summit and that he is a “born member” of the group. The petista had said in 2023 in India that Putin would not risk being arrested if he came to Brazil for the G20 – which occurred last year without the dictator’s presence. This time, Lula said it will be up to the Russian to decide whether to come to the river or not. Last year the dictator visited Mongolia, which is also a signatory to the ICC.
A similar case occurred in Poland. In January this year, the Polish government said it would not arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – also sentenced to prison by the ICC – if he went to the country.
At the time, Donald Tusk, a Polish prime Minister, in a statement issued by his government, said he would “guarantee free and safe access and participation in these high-senior Israeli state representatives” at the ceremony that marked the 80th anniversary of Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.
Others absent from the BRICS meeting
In addition to Putin, Chinese dictator Xi Jinping will also not be present at the Rio Block meeting. Check out the absent:
- Vladimir Putin, President of Russia; will participate in video conferencing.
- XI Jinping, President of China; Will be represented by Li Qiang, Chinese Prime Minister
- Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s Supreme Leader
For experts, not coming from Putin and Xi Jinping in Rio de Janeiro makes the meeting irrelevant, especially because Brazil and the other present have no autonomy to close agreements that both dictators may oppose.
“It is enough for China and Russia to change their perspective so that the decisions made there are validity. This shows a weak meeting, the fragility of the strength of Brazil and the current government, which shows that it has no capacity to be a protagonist. Lula lost the conditions he could have as an international mediator by showing himself as shown in the two current wars,” explains Marcelo Seano, teacher of international relations and political analyst.
