After promising not to arrest his Russian counterpart, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva backtracked this Monday. Vladimir Putin, in case you travel to the next peak G20 In Rio de Janeiro, despite the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for alleged war crimes Ukraine.
In an interview with Indian television, Lula made a controversial promise not to arrest Putin and questioned his country’s participation in the ICC when other major countries had not signed the Rome Statute that led to it. “We need to work hard on the International Criminal Court. The USA is not a signatory. Why do we have to accept an agreement that the USA does not accept?” he questioned.
According to the Brazilian President, “developing countries are signatories of things that harm them.” “I will think about this carefully,” he added, but emphasized that this does not mean he will lead his country out of this crisis. ICC. “I just want to know why Brazil is a signatory, but not the US, not China, not India, not Russia,” he added. As many as 123 countries have signed the Rome Statute, and another thirty countries have signed but not ratified it.
This Monday, Lula showed more restraint and assured that whether Putin is arrested or not is not a matter for the Government. “Justice will decide” he stated at a press conference.
Major absences
Last March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for the Russian President for the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children during the invasion of Ukraine. BRICS summit (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) were recently held in the African country. This is the first time in history that the ICC has issued an arrest warrant against the head of a UN Security Council member state.
Lula, who took the G20 presidency from India on Sunday, expressed his hope that Chinese presidents Xi Jinping and Russia, the main figures who did not attend the New Delhi meeting, will attend the next G20 summit. Held in the South American country in November 2024, “I don’t know why President Xi and President Putin did not come. We will invite them, we hope they will attend. I hope there will be a war when we hold the summit.”
Putin did not attend the New Delhi summit last weekend, although the exact reasons for India’s failure to re-ratify the Rome Statute were not disclosed.