Putin to virtually attend SA Brics summit

Russian leader Vladimir Putin will be attending the upcoming Brics summit virtually, because he “did not want to jeopardise” the meeting or “create problems for SA”.

This was revealed by SA’s Brics sherpa, Prof Anil Sooklal, during a briefing on Thursday on the government’s state of readiness to host the 15th Brics Summit in August.

“President Putin not being physically present in the summit impacts all of the other leaders as well. I think it shows the maturity and the strength of the partnership, that collectively we could come to a decision that, yes, President Putin understands the dilemma SA faces, but he didn’t want to jeopardise the summit or create problems for SA,” Sooklal said.

On Wednesday, the presidency confirmed Putin will not be attending the summit in person. “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 Sergei Lavrov,” it said.

Though Russia will be physically represented by Lavrov, Putin will be involved in all the deliberations and sessions during the summit, Sooklal said. 

“This is the strength of the Brics co-operation that we can have this kind of maturity and solidarity in this relationship and ensure that we have a highly successful summit in SA with his participation virtually, and that all the issues we have set on the agenda are discussed collectively and we are confident that the summit will be a success,” he said. 

“There is no threat of anyone walking out. Unlike the G20, all the Brics leaders will fully embrace the summit. 

“This is not unusual. Last year at the G20 in November in Jakarta, President Putin didn’t attend. Again, it was because of his consideration for the good relationship with Indonesia and President Joko Widodo. He didn’t want to collapse that summit, because there was a threat that if he attended Western leaders would walk out.

“I think the agreement we have reached as Brics countries in terms of this challenge that we had to address as SA, being a party to the Rome Statute and the presence of President Putin in SA and the arrest warrant, our president ... has done extremely well.” 

Ramaphosa has engaged all parties, added Sooklal.

“This decision was not just taken between President Ramaphosa and Putin. Over the past several months, our president has engaged with all the Brics leaders on several occasions and spoken to them personally several times discussing this issue.”

The Brics family, he said, is a consensus-based entity.

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