After declining to attend the BRICS summit in South Africa, Vladimir Putin is also giving the G20 in India a miss. Once again, he has sent his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, in his place. Why is this?
Russia does not have a vice-president, but it appears that its foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, is taking on a similar role — at least where foreign policy is concerned. At the G20 summit in India this weekend (September 9—10), Russia will be represented not by President Vladimir Putin but by his chief diplomat. Lavrov also deputized for the Russian leader at the BRICS summit in South Africa a few weeks ago.
Observers suspect the main reason Putin did not fly to South Africa was that he was afraid he would be arrested. In March of this year, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader on suspicion of organizing the illegal deportation of children in Russia’s war against Ukraine.
The Kremlin rejects these accusations, and does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. South Africa does, however, meaning that it is obliged to arrest and extradite anyone on its territory for whom an ICC warrant has been issued.
