On Wednesday, a Ukrainian recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize urged South Africa to forbid Russian President Vladimir Putin from travelling there to attend the BRICS conference in August.
The leader of an NGO that was awarded the first-ever peace prize for Ukraine last year, Oleksandra Romantsova, pleaded with the South African government to “show us that they care.”
Putin’s arrest order was issued by the ICC in March, thus Pretoria, which is hosting the bloc summit of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa this year, would have to detain him when he arrived.
“For us South Africa is a place where people are fighting for freedom, for equality for dignity,” Romantsova, who was in South Africa to garner support for Ukraine, told a media briefing in Johannesburg.
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If Putin were to come here and not be arrested it would “be a great disappointment,” she said.
The International Criminal Court warrant against Putin stems from accusations that Russia unlawfully deported Ukrainian children.
Romantsova, the executive director of the Kyiv-based Center for Civil Liberties (CCL), suggested the Russian president could attend the BRICS summit via Zoom — or send a minister who is not wanted by the ICC.
CCL, which has run successful campaigns for political prisoners, tracked enforced disappearances and highlighted Russian war crimes, shared the peace prize with Belarusian and Russian co-winners last year.
A continental powerhouse, South Africa has refused to condemn the invasion of Ukraine which has largely isolated Moscow on the international stage, saying it wants to stay neutral and prefers dialogue to end the war.
Earlier this year, it held a controversial joint military exercise with Russia and China, which critics cite as evidence of a tilt towards the Kremlin.
Romantsova, who came to South Africa as part of a delegation comprising academics and non-profit organisations, met with senior officials at the South African foreign ministry. But she was given the cold shoulder by the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party.
“We are trying to meet (the ANC) and for me it’s surprising that it’s so difficult to organise such a meeting,” said Olexiy Haran, another member of the delegation and a politics professor at National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy.
