Durban - The BRICS family is a consensus-based entity and there is zero concern that members of the grouping would stage a walk out if Russian President Vladimir Putin addressed the summit virtually, South Africa's Brics sherpa, Prof Anil Sooklal, said on Monday.
Sooklal last week said that Putin will be attending next month’s BRICS summit virtually, as he did not want to jeopardise the meeting or create issues for South Africa.
The South African government was facing legal action to compel it to arrest Putin if he arrived in-person at the summit after the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest related to alleged war crimes during the Ukraine conflict.
However, South Africa and Russia reached a mutual agreement that Putin would not attend the summit in-person. Instead, the Russian Federation delegation will be represented in-person by foreign minister Sergey Lavrov.
Sooklal on Monday said the issue of Putin addressing the summit was never an issue for BRICS countries.
“The strength of the BRICS co-operation is that we can have this kind of maturity and solidarity in this relationship and ensure that we have a highly successful summit in South Africa with his participation virtually, and that all the issues we have set on the agenda are discussed collectively. We are confident that the summit will be a success.
“Unlike the G20, all the BRICS leaders will fully embrace the summit. There is no threat of anyone walking out,” Sooklal said.
He said BRICS was seeking solutions to global problems and did not want to intensify problems.
“BRICS nations have not supplied weapons in the conflict and are negotiating a peaceful settlement to the conflict through diplomatic means.”
Ramaphosa is expected to participate in the second Russia-Africa summit which takes place in St Petersburg in the Russian Federation on July 27 and 28.
The summit, which aims to foster mutually beneficial co-operation and partnerships between Russia and the African continent, first convened in October 2019 with a commitment to continue meeting every three years.
These submissions will focus on strengthening co-operation between Russia and African states in politics, security, trade, science, IT, humanitarian support, education, culture, sports, youth and the environment.
The declarations also seek to strengthen co-operation in the fight against terrorism, the prevention of an arms race in outer space, and information security, the Presidency said.