South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday confirmed that next month's BRICS summit, to which all leaders of the member states, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, have been invited, will be "physical."
"The BRICS summit is going ahead and we are finalizing our discussions on the format," he told journalists on the sidelines of a ruling African National Congress (ANC) meeting, adding: "We are going to have a physical BRICS summit."
The president recalled that the economic bloc hadn't held an offline summit for almost three years, reiterating that the forthcoming meeting won't be virtual. He highlighted that all the BRICS member states want to hold a meeting during which participants and leaders are "able to eyeball each other" and communicate.
However, he didn't elaborate on Putin's participation in the summit. The ICC, whose jurisdiction Russia does not recognize, issued a warrant for the arrest of the Russian head of state and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on March 17. Moscow slammed the move as unlawful.
South Africa, as a member of the organization, would be required to arrest Putin if he attends the gathering. According to Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, the country is fully aware of its obligations to the ICC, and is trying to resolve the matter.
Earlier this month, President Ramaphosa submitted a confidential affidavit responding to the opposition party Democratic Alliance's (DA) court application on how the government should deal with an ICC arrest warrant for the Russian leader in the run-up to this year's BRICS summit.
The presidential spokesman, Vincent Magwenya, confirmed Ramaphosa's response to the DA’s court case, stressing that the president is obliged to keep his affidavit confidential. He also noted that, as of now, the government is beyond weighing up legal solutions to the issue of the Russian president's visit to the meeting, adding that a final decision would soon be announced by President Ramaphosa.