South Africa has said it is aware of its legal obligations over a possible summer visit by Vladimir Putin after an international court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader, Reuters reports. However, the African country is close to Russia, so Putin’s arrest is unlikely if the Russian leader comes to the BRICS summit.

Russian President Putin was expected to visit South Africa in August for the BRICS summit.

“We, as the government, are aware of our legal obligation. However, between today and the summit, we will continue to engage with the various relevant stakeholders,” said President Cyril Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya.

Although there was no official confirmation of Putin’s visit, he was expected to attend the 15th BRICS summit, as he did in 2013.

But such a visit would put Ramaphosa’s government, which has not condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, in a precarious position following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday.

“We are taking note of the arrest warrant notice issued by the ICC,” Magwenya said.

“South Africa remains committed and very strongly desires that the conflict in Ukraine be resolved peacefully through negotiations.”

South Africa signed the Rome Statute in 1998 and is part of the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, but since the start of the war, President Cyril Ramaphosa has expressed his friendship with Putin.

In 2022, a month after the start of the war, Cyril Ramaphosa blamed NATO for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

“The war could have been avoided if NATO had heeded the warnings of its own leaders and officials for several years that its eastward expansion would increase instability in the region, not reduce it,” he said. Russian President Vladimir Putin also supported.

However, Ramaphosa said South Africa “cannot tolerate the use of force and violations of international law”, referring to the February 24 invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special operation” to disarm and “denazify” Ukraine.

At the beginning of the war, at least 141 countries voted for the UN General Assembly resolution of March 3, 2022, which condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The five countries that voted against, along with Russia, were Syria, Eritrea, North Korea and Belarus, while 35 abstained, including South Africa.

In August 2022, the Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Serhii Shoigu thanked the friends of Russia for their presence at the military forum “Army-2022” organized in Moscow.

“In this hall today are present prominent military leaders of the friendly countries of Burundi, the Republic of Guinea, Cameroon, Mali, Sudan, Uganda, Chad, Ethiopia, and the Republic of South Africa. We appreciate your support,” Shoigu said.