BERLIN: Brazil’s leader said on Monday he could not offer any personal assurance to Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would not be arrested should he attend the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro late next year.
Whether Putin would be arrested in Brazil due to the warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes in Ukraine was not within his area of responsibility, President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said during a visit to Berlin, reported German news agency (dpa).
“Will he be arrested when he arrives? Maybe, maybe not. That will be decided by the judiciary,” Lula said at German-Brazilian government consultations.
Putin has barely left Russia since launching his all-out war on Ukraine in February 2022. He skipped recent summits held in South Africa – for the BRICS countries – and India – for G20 members.
The ICC accuses Putin of being responsible for the abduction and deportation of children and minors from Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine to Russia. Moscow refers to the incidents as evacuations.
Unlike the United States and Russia, Brazil signed up to the Rome Statute that established the ICC in the Dutch city of The Hague and therefore would be expected to honour the arrest warrant. – BERNAMA-dpa
