The Russian president has an outstanding arrest warrant for war crimes and would be arrested if he left the country
Every year, the world’s major heads of state set aside time in their calendars for the two days of G20 Summit. In this edition, the event will take place on November 18 and 19, in Rio de Janeiro, and the list of confirmed candidates already includes important government leaders, such as Joe Biden, from the United States, and Xi Jinping, from China. But one president refused to attend the summit: Vladimir Putin. The reason is an arrest warrant against the Russian for war crimes.
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Instead of Putin, Russia will be represented in Brazil by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sergei Lavrov. The information was officially released this Wednesday, the 13th, by the state news agency Tass.
“Following the president’s instructions [Vladimir Putin]”Minister Sergei Lavrov will head the delegation of our country present at the event”, confirmed the spokeswoman of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, in a press conference.
The summit will be Lavrov’s second visit to Brazil in 2024. In February, Putin’s representative also went to the country for the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting, led by Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira.
Putin received a formal invitation
Before finding a “replacement” for the event, Vladimir Putin was formally invited by the president of this year’s G20 Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT).
In December 2023, Lula was scheduled to travel to Germany when he was asked about Putin’s presence at the G20 summit. Then the president declared that the invitation would be made, even if the response was negative. The formality is customary between the countries hosting the event and the members of the group.
“Putin will come or not, he will be invited. He has a trial, he must evaluate the consequences. I am not the one to say that,” explained the PT member.
“It is a judicial decision. A President of the Republic does not judge judicial decisions, he adapts or does not adapt. Putin is invited to the G20 in Brazil, to the BRICS in Brazil. And if he participates, he knows what will happen. It may or may not happen”, he mused, citing the main reason why the Kremlin chief decided not to attend the meeting.
The Russian could be arrested upon arrival in Brazil
As Lula had predicted, the invitation was rejected by Vladimir Putin. In October, the Russian president confirmed that he would not attend the G20 leaders’ summit, which will take place in Brazil.
The Kremlin chief’s decision came four days after the then Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Andriy Kostin, asked Brazilian authorities to execute an arrest warrant against Putin. Despite Ukraine’s request, the country led by Volodymyr Zelenskyj is neither part nor invited to attend the G20 talks.
“Due to information that Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil, I would like to reiterate that it is the obligation of the Brazilian authorities, as a state party to the Rome Statute, to arrest him if he dares to visit him. I sincerely hope that Brazil arrests him, reaffirming its condition of democracy and rule of law. If this is not done, there is a risk of creating a precedent in which leaders accused of crimes can travel with impunity,” Andriy Kostin told AFP. era.
The document referred to by the then Ukrainian prosecutor was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March 2023 and calls for the arrest of the Russian for alleged war crimes during the conflict in Ukraine, which began three years ago.
The “problem” is that Brazil is a signatory to the Treaty of Rome, which would oblige the country to hand Putin over to the authorities as soon as he sets foot on Brazilian territory. Signed in 1998, the statute provides for international cooperation of signatories to comply with mandates issued by the ICC.
The Russian government denies the accusations, but Putin admitted that he preferred not to “pay to see” and that he does not intend to “ruin” the forum with his presence.
“We have a good relationship, a friendly relationship with President Lula. Would I go there on purpose? To violate the functioning of this forum? To ruin the forum?”, Putin asked on CNN.
Discomfort due to Putin’s presence
Even if he could participate in the G20 in Rio de Janeiro, Vladimir Putin would cause enormous discomfort for heads of state. President Lula revealed the news in an interview with American CNN last Friday, the 8th.
The Brazilian chief executive also stated that he considered malaise to be the more important reason for the Russian’s absence than the ongoing arrest warrant.
“The problem is not just protecting Putin from arrest in Brazil. This is the simplest thing to do. The problem is that there are several G20 presidents who would not stay in the room if Putin entered the room. All the European countries that participate to the G20, plus the United States, which would be a very inconvenient thing,” Lula said.
For Lula, Putin’s relations with other world leaders would certainly improve with the end of the war against Ukraine. “Putin’s things will be resolved when the war in Ukraine ends. Then he can attend a G20 meeting, as well as the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky. Zelensky may be invited. It turns out that I don’t want to discuss the war in Ukraine. Ukraine and Russia in the G20,” he said.
What should Russia discuss at the G20 summit?
It is at the G20 summit that heads of state sign agreements that impact global socioeconomic development. Without Putin’s presence and under the command of Minister Lavrov, Russia intends to join the Alliance against Hunger and Poverty, led by Lula.
According to Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, the Russian delegation will also defend ideas in support of sustainable development.
This includes “approaches for the rational implementation of energy transitions, the maintenance of open and non-discriminatory international trade and the creation of market mechanisms that go beyond the opportunistic and narrow interests of some countries, in line with the spirit of the decisions of the BRICS Kazan Summit”.
The diplomat also confirmed that the Kremlin intends to address what it calls the “depoliticization” of the G20 and that the country will reaffirm “its commitment to being a reliable supplier of food and energy to friendly nations in the South and East of the world.” .
Russia still intends to organize a series of bilateral talks and meetings on the sidelines of the summit and led by Sergey Lavrov.
Source: Terra
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