CAPE TOWN. June 1 (Interfax) - The South African authorities are exploring legal ways of Russian President Vladimir Putin's attendance at the BRICS summit in August 2023, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on Thursday.
"As I indicated [...] the South African government is currently looking at what legal options are with respect to this matter. And [...] the president would be the best person to speak about [the decision]," Pandor told reporters in Cape Town.
"[Our] obligations are clear but the answer is not fudged. The answer is the president will indicate what the final position of South Africa is," she said, adding that the leaders of all five BRICS nations had been invited to the summit and the invitations remained in force.
The Pretrial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian Children's Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova in March 2023.
Moscow calls the warrants void and illegal and has put the ICC judge and prosecutor associated with the warrants on the national wanted list.