'I don’t care where Brics summit is held. What matters is respect for rules and principle': Ukraine foreign minister

Ukrainian foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba says he “does not care” if South Africa decides to move the upcoming 15th Brics summit. What he wants “is the respect for the rule of law and principle”.

Kuleba was speaking to African journalists on Wednesday night after visiting Morocco, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Mozambique and Nigeria.

This followed his visits last October to Senegal, Ivory Coast, Ghana and Kenya. He is planning to visit more African states including South Africa soon. 

Asked about reports that South Africa was reconsidering hosting the summit in Johannesburg in August to avert a possible crisis after the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued a warrant of arrest for Russian leader Vladimir Putin, Kuleba said it was up to South Africa to decide what to do in the situation.

“I think that the very fact that it’s getting more difficult for Putin to go anywhere in the world is welcome, but I think that the most important thing for every respectable country in the world is to respect rules and principles. 

“If South Africa is a party to the Rome Statute, it has to abide by its rules and provisions and therefore President Putin should not step on South African soil or, if he does, he should be arrested in accordance with the warrant. 

“In the end every country decides for itself whether it wants to follow rules and respect them or to waive from itself from implementation. I don’t care where the Brics Summit is held, it does not really matter. What really matters is respect for rules and principles.”

Kuleba’s comments come at a time when African heads of states are preparing to undertake a peace mission to Kyiv and Moscow in a bid to bring a peaceful negotiated end to the war which broke out in February last year.

His utterances also come at a time when the South African government is faced with making a difficult decision on whether it will comply with the ICC’s order to arrest Putin when he lands in South Africa for the summit.

To avoid another embarrassment similar to what happened in 2015 when the government failed to comply with an ICC court order to arrest then Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, it needs to consider whether it will host the summit virtually or move it to another country.

Because South Africa is a signatory to the ICC’s Rome Statute, it is obliged to arrest Putin when he lands on African soil.   

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s interministerial committee, led by deputy president Paul Mashatile, met for the first time on Monday to consider the government's options on the matter.

The committee is expected to hand over a report to Ramaphosa and the cabinet on how the government should manage the situation.

Meanwhile, the Sunday Times reported at the weekend the ANC has hinted the government is reconsidering its invitation to Putin to attend the Brics summit in person.

ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula said in an interview with the Sunday Times Putin “should not feel belittled” if the invitation is withdrawn.

“Russia must not feel belittled if it so happens their president does not come because South Africa is a signatory to the International Criminal Court (ICC). It is what it is. They can still participate in the Brics forum and that’s what’s important, so it shouldn’t change anything.”     

He also said South Africa will not undermine its ratification of the ICC's Rome Statute by welcoming Putin and not complying with the court's arrest warrant.

Asked whether Ukraine was concerned about South Africa's perceived close ties with Russia, Kuleba said: “It does not worry me, it is a reality that I have to work with to change it and that’s what I am doing. I don’t have any emotions about it.

“I just know that for the best interest of my country and world order, it is important that some countries in the world change their attitude towards Russia and we work with this reality.” 

He said it was up to countries to choose whether they want “to be friends with someone who gives orders to invade, destroy villages and towns, kidnap children and transfer them to Russia to be re-educated and forcibly adopted by Russian families, whose soldiers rape and torture and raze settlements to the ground. If this is the kind of friends that you want to have, then well that is your choice.”

For some African nations who want to remain friends, with Russia, “it is a forced friendship,” he said, adding they would be happy to relinquish the friendship “but Russia’s grip is too tight”.

When Russia loses the war, this grip will be eased, he said.

TimesLIVE