South Africa’s BRICS “Sherpa” Anil Sooklal announced on Thursday that Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in the upcoming summit virtually.
This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s statement that Putin will not be attending the BRICS Summit “by mutual agreement”, adding that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would lead his country’s delegation.
“But he will attend the summit virtually. He will be involved in all of the sessions that the leaders are partaking in the traditional summit of BRICS leaders,” Sooklal told the press.
In addition, the Russian President will also deliver his closing remarks virtually at the BRICS Business Council and all the other deliberations of the conference.
“Although Minister Lavrov will be physically present, President Putin will participate virtually,” he stressed.
This is after the International Criminal Court (ICC) judges issued arrest warrants against Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova in March for allegedly being responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation and transfer of children from Ukraine to Russia.
According to the Sherpa, who is a representative of the Head of State tasked with preparing for international summits, this was “unusual”.
He reminded the media that last year, he also did not attend a gathering of leaders from the Group of 20 (G20) nations in Jakarta, Indonesia.
“It was because of the good relationship that he has with Indonesia and President Joko Wododo. He didn’t want to collapse that summit because there was a threat that if he attended the summit, certain leaders would walk out and the summit would collapse,” he explained.
“He considered that he wanted Indonesia to have a successful conference and he sent Minister Lavrov.”
Sooklal believes that the agreement that has been reached by BRICS leaders reflects President Ramaphosa’s job well done.
“He has engaged all parties and not just President Putin. This decision wasn’t just taken between President Ramaphosa and President Putin.”
He added that the country’s First Citizen in the past several months has engaged all BRICS leaders.
“He has spoken to them personally several times, discussing this issue. As I said, BRICS is a consensus-based entity,” he explained.
“President Putin not being physically present in the summit impacts all the other leaders as well and I think it shows the maturity and the strength of the partnership and that collectively, we could come to a decision.
“President Putin understands the dilemma South Africa faces and didn’t want to jeopardise the summit or create problems for South Africa and this is the strength of BRICS cooperation.”
Meanwhile, he believes this demonstrates President Putin’s desire for South Africa, as a BRICS chair, has a successful summit and all the issues set on the agenda are discussed collectively.
“We’re confident that the summit will be a success. There’s no threat of a walkout by anyone like in G20. All the BRICS leaders will fully embrace the summit and so are the leaders of the Global South.”
He also outlined the three-day programme of the 15th BRICS Summit in South Africa that will take place from 22 to 24 August 2023 at the Sandton Convention Centre.
This includes a media briefing led by the Heads of State, dinner, and cultural activities.
For the first time, he said the summit, will incorporate the participation of the youth.
The Sherpa also said that they have invited a total of 69, including Global South leaders and believes that this year’s gathering will be the largest yet.
“President Emmanuel Macron has also asked to attend the summit. There’s a high interest in the summit.”
Sooklal said Ministers in BRICS, a group of emerging markets — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, will soon deliberate on the issue of expansion.
The Sherpa said 22 countries have formally approached BRICS nations to become members of the group.
“There’s no area of the world where a country hasn’t formally asked; from the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Europe and all the major players from the Global South.” – SAnews.gov.za
