Brazil: Putin will not be arrested if he comes to the next G20 summit

Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be arrested if he attends the next summit G20 2024 was organized in Rio de Janeiro, said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. During an interview broadcast on Indian television channel Firstpost on Saturday evening, Lula assured that the Russian head of state would receive an invitation to visit the Brazilian city despite the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant issued in March. He committed war crimes for deporting Ukrainian children.

“If I were the president of Brazil, I could tell you that if he came to Brazil, there would be no reason to arrest him,” Lula declared on the sidelines of this weekend’s G20 summit in New Delhi. Kremlin denies ICC charges, ruling arrest warrant against Russian leader “invalid”. Brazil is a signatory to the 1998 Rome Statute, the international treaty that led to the creation of the ICC in 2002, so the Russian president can be arrested if he enters its territory.

Invitation

As in Bali 2022, Vladimir Putin will not attend this weekend’s meeting of the club of the world’s major developed and emerging economies, but will be represented there by the head of Russian diplomacy, Sergei Lavrov. The Brazilian president recalled during the interview that before the next meeting of the G20 leaders, a meeting of BRICS leaders, a joint group of emerging countries including Brazil and Russia, will be held on Russian territory.

“Everybody is going to come to the BRICS summit, so I hope they will come to the G20 summit in Brazil. They will feel a peaceful environment in Brazil,” Lula promised. “We want to take care of the people. So I think Putin can easily go to Brazil,” he added.

(AFP)Show comments