ST. PETERSBURG, July 30. /TASS/. Many people in South Africa regret that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not arrive in Johannesburg to take part in the BRICS summit, Advisor to the President of South Africa Joseph Pu told TASS on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa summit.

"I'm sorry to say that we don't have leaders with balls," he said, commenting on the situation around Putin’s participation in the BRICS summit. "The people on the ground were saying that they are going to protect President Putin because they love them. We are where we are in South Africa because of Russia, not because of America, not because of Britain. Russia sacrificed everything for us to be where we are today."

Pu expressed bewilderment over why "somebody from nowhere" should tell his country who they should receive. He confirmed reports that his country is looking at elaborating a law to ensure leaders’ immunity.

Johannesburg will host a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in August. Putin will take part via a videoconference link. Russia will be represented offline by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.