South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa will have phone calls with the BRICS heads of state, a minister in the president's office said amid rumors about the possible relocation of the BRICS summit scheduled for South Africa.
Responding to reporters after the cabinet meeting, Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said that Ramaphosa's conversation with the Chinese leader will be held in the near future.
"The president will make another phone call to the president of China, President Xi Jinping this week, and will call Brazilian leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi in due course," Ntshavheni noted.
According to the minister, plans to hold the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, as originally intended, "as for now remain unchanged."
On June 1, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor made it clear during the BRICS ministerial council meeting that the August summit of the group would be hosted by Johannesburg.
Statements by officials denying the relocation came as South Africa, as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) which issued a warrant for Putin's arrest, is considering various options to enable the Russian leader's participation in the summit.
These include changing national legislation to allow Pretoria to determine who to arrest if requested by the ICC or extending diplomatic immunity to visiting heads of state.
In March, the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes, which Moscow strongly denies and emphasizes that the court's decision was legally null and void for the country, since the country is not a party to the court.
Last month, Fikile Mbalula, the head of the African National Congress, South Africa's ruling party, pointed out the hypocrisy of the West in urging Putin's arrest, citing the ICC's connivance with Western leaders who unleashed wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.