Russian President Vladimir Putin has cancelled his trip to South Africa to attend the BRICS Summit. 

Mr Putin was invited to the BRICS Summit in Johannesburg this August but is the target of an International Criminal Court arrest warrant – a provision that Pretoria as an ICC member, would be expected to implement were he to attend.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who confirmed this in a statement issued on Wednesday, said Mr Putin would now be represented by Sergey Lavrov, the country’s foreign minister. 

“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Mr Sergey Lavrov,” Mr Ramaphosa said. 

The South African president added, “It will be the first BRICS Summit to be hosted in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global restrictions.”

Mr Ramaphosa had earlier warned that any attempt to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin as he plans to visit the country next month would be “a declaration of war with Russia.”

“Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war,” Mr Ramaphosa said in court documents released Tuesday.