MOSCOW, May 30. /TASS/. The Kremlin hopes that its partners in the BRICS bloc will not be swayed by the illegal decisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Russian Presidential Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.
"Naturally, we hope that at least [our] partner countries within such an important format will not be guided by such illegal decisions," he said when asked about the level of Russia’s representation at the upcoming BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, given that the diplomatic immunity to be extended to participants in the confab will not override arrest warrants issued by the ICC.
On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Netherlands, issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The ICC statement said they could be liable "for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation." Commenting on the decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow did not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the decisions of the ICC had no authority for Russia whatsoever, while any potential arrest warrants would be legally void.
The South African Department of International Relations and Cooperation said earlier on Tuesday that the diplomatic immunity that the country’s authorities intend to grant to participants in the BRICS ministerial meeting in June and the bloc’s summit in August will not necessarily override any international court warrant issued against any of the participants. "The immunities are for the conference and not for specific individuals. They are meant to protect the conference and its attendees from the jurisdiction of the host country for the duration of the conference," it said.
On April 28, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa established an interagency committee to examine the country’s relations with the ICC. South African Deputy President Paul Mashatile was appointed to chair the committee. On May 3, Justice and Correctional Services Minister Ronald Lamola said that Pretoria was considering domesticating the Rome Statute so that visiting foreign heads of state facing ICC arrest warrants could enjoy regular diplomatic immunity.