RIO DE JANEIRO, December 5. /TASS/. The Brazilian authorities will invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to the G20 summit to be held in the country in September 2024, even though Brasilia recognizes the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader for alleged involvement in war crimes, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said.
"Whether Putin comes or not is up to him, [but] he'll be invited. There is a case against him [at the International Criminal Court], he must assess the consequences," the Correio Brasiliense newspaper quoted the president as saying. "Since Brazil is a signatory [to the Rome Statute], Brazil is responsible," he pointed out. According to electoral law, Russia's presidential election is scheduled for mid-March 2024. On November 13, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Putin had not yet made any decisions about running for president in 2024.
The G20 summit is expected to be held next fall in Brazil, which assumed the chairmanship over the group on December 1.
On March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of "illegal deportation" of Ukrainian children.
Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Internationally Protected Persons of December 14, 1973, heads of state enjoy absolute immunity from the jurisdiction of foreign states.