Cape Town — DA Leader John Steenhuisen has been vocal about the current Vladimir Putin situation and has not laid the matter to rest as they seek clarity on the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
News that Putin will not attend the BRICS Summit came as little surprise as the Russian President potential visit as been a thorny diplomatic issue for South Africa
“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Mr (Sergei) Lavrov,” Presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said.
In lieu of this, The DA pointed out that the ANC issued an arrest warrant only after the DA’s court case to compel the government to comply with the ICC to arrest Putin.
The South African government has applied for a warrant to arrest Vladimir Putin. This comes in direct response to the DA’s court case to compel the government to comply with the ICC directive to arrest Putin for abducting Ukrainian children. The DA also won costs. pic.twitter.com/c6aDk0qutZ
— John Steenhuisen MP (@jsteenhuisen) July 21, 2023
They are adamant that aspects of Ramaphosa’s affadavit that needs to be challenged, The Citizen reported.
“We are continuing with our court case around the ICC and the arrest warrant matter as well as South Africa’s obligations. We believe that this is important because there are aspects of President Ramaphosa’s affidavit that needs to be challenged,” Steenhuisen said.
“This is in light of the president’s refusal to provide a clear answer on his duties, including issuing relief to correct his errors of law, and an appropriate order as to all the costs we had to incur.” he added.
International relations expert Brooks Spector said Putin’s absence from BRICS is a win for Cyril Ramaphosa as it will help patch strained relations between South Africa and the USA, eNCA reported.
“You have to give Cyril Ramaphosa a win on this one and maybe not a full complete total one but it’s a win, but because it took a long time to get to this position, but its a win.
I’ve never been convinced that this BRICS formula is, in fact, a real international movement and I do think that South Africa spends much more of its foreign policy energy on the concept of BRICS than any of it’s so called partners do,” he said.
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
