South African President: Russia threatened war if Putin is arrested under the warrant of the Hague Tribunal
Ramaphosa says he does not want to fight with Russia and scares everyone with a nuclear threat
President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa has said that Russia threatened him with war if war criminal Vladimir Putin was arrested under a warrant issued by the International Criminal Court.
Source. Bloomberg writes about it.
"Russia has made it clear that the arrest of President Putin would be a declaration of war against Russia. The International Criminal Court itself expressed concern about the nuclear threat from Russia after the arrest warrant was issued. South Africa has no right to declare or wage war with Russia. And it does not want to," Ramaphosa said.
At the same time, the Democratic Alliance, the main opposition party in South Africa, appealed to the country's High Court to force the government to execute the ICC arrest warrant issued for Putin. South Africa is a party to the Rome Statute and is obliged to comply with its decisions.
The government is aware of its legal obligations and is looking for ways to resolve the situation with the warrant, Ramaphosa said. He argues that until Putin lands in the country – and he may never do so – he is under no obligation to speak out on the matter.
"There is no commitment to arrest yet," Ramaphosa said. – "They could only be if President Putin came to South Africa.
South Africa tried to circumvent the warrant by moving the summit to China or holding it virtually, but both options were vetoed by other BRICS members. According to local media reports, Putin insisted on coming, which put South Africa in a difficult situation.
According to Ramaphosa, the government is consulting with the International Criminal Court in light of its concern that Putin's arrest could provoke a conflict and compromise the African leaders' initiative to establish peace in Ukraine.
Pretoria drew international criticism in 2015 when it refused to execute an arrest warrant for then-Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who was accused of war crimes and genocide when he arrived at a meeting of African leaders in Johannesburg. South Africa's Supreme Court of Appeal ruled that the government acted illegally, and the ICC said it had failed to fulfill its international obligations.
Background. To recap, the European Parliament called on the court in The Hague to issue an arrest warrant for Lukashenko.
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