Cyril Ramaphosa, the President of South Africa, has revealed plans to send a delegation to the United States to clarify its position on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ramaphosa plans to send a representative to Washington in order to set the record straight before the BRICS Summit in August 2023, where Russian President, Vladimir Putin is expected to be in Pretoria.
The envoy would be sent to the US to “engage and persuade” stakeholders on the country’s position on Russia and its leader.
Following the International Criminal Court issuance of an arrest warrant on March 17 against the Russian President for alleged war crimes in Ukraine, President Cyril Ramaphosa, through his spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, said he was aware of the legal development, ahead of the Russian president’s expected visit to South Africa in August for the BRICS summit.
South Africa is expected to arrest President Putin if he lands in the country being a signatory to the Rome Statute, but it is not likely to, going by its strong tie with Russia and its antecedent in a similar case when former Sudanese leader, Omar al-Bashir visited. The action was however condemned by the court at the time.
The move is widely believed to be an attempt to shield itself from potential sanctions by the US which have publicly backed the indictment of Russia by the court and has sided with the European Union (EU) to support Ukraine in the war.
Officials of South Africa’s ruling party, the African National Congress, recently visited Russia on what the party described as a “working visit” as the state continues deepening its ties with Moscow.