Putin says he won't attend G20 summit in Brazil, dismisses ICC warrant concerns

Amid Ukraine’s call to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he attends the Group of 20 nations (G20) summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil next month, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday that he will not attend the summit, saying that his arrival would “wreck” the conference.

Putin insisted that an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant for his arrest was not a factor, saying “that rulings of this type can be got around very easily”.

Putin said that his possible attendance at next month’s summit of the Group of 20 leading economies in Brazil would disrupt the important work there, adding that somebody else would represent Moscow there.

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Earlier this week, Ukraine’s top prosecutor said he had received intelligence indicating that Putin may attend the G20 summit in Brazil next month, and called on authorities there to carry out a warrant for his arrest if he showed up.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued a warrant for Putin in March 2023, roughly a year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, accusing him of the war crime of deporting children.

Russia denies allegations of war crimes and the Kremlin has dismissed the ICC warrant as “null and void”.

When asked if a decision had been made on whether Putin would attend the meeting of the world’s 20 leading economies, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters last Monday: “No. When a decision is made, we will let you know.”

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Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told Reuters in an interview that “it’s important for the international community to stand united and hold Putin accountable.”

A spokesperson for the ICC reiterated that it relies on state parties and other partners to execute its decisions, including arrest warrants. Member states “have the obligation to cooperate in accordance with” the court’s founding treaty, spokesperson Fadi El Abdallah.

Among six Russian officials subject to ICC warrants are commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, former defense minister Sergei Shoigu and Viktor Sokolov and Sergey Kobylash, who are accused of directing attacks against civilian sites.

Putin went to Mongolia in September without any problem despite the country being a member of the ICC and obliged to detain those sought by the court.

However, he did skip a meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) group in South Africa.

The ICC, with 124 member states, was established in 2002 to prosecute war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression when member states are unwilling or unable to do so themselves.

With inputs from agencies.