Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend next week’s annual BRICS summit in Brazil over concerns about an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for him over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov has confirmed. “This is due to certain complications in the context of the ICC’s requirements,” Ushakov said. “In this context, the Brazilian government has failed to take a clear position that would allow our president to participate in this meeting.” The Russian leader is instead expected to join his BRICS counterparts via video link.
Putin has officially been a war crimes suspect since the ICC named him in an arrest warrant in March 2023 in connection with the mass deportation of Ukrainian children. Russia is accused of abducting and deporting tens of thousands of Ukrainian children, with many victims reportedly subjected to ideological indoctrination to strip them of their Ukrainian heritage and impose a Russian national identity. These mass abductions could qualify as genocide under the 1948 UN Genocide Convention, which defines “the forcible transfer of children from one group to another” as one of five internationally recognized acts of genocide.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute that established the ICC, Brazil would be obliged to arrest Putin if he entered the country. Speaking about the ICC warrant in 2023, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva first dismissed talk of detaining the Russian president, then backtracked and distanced himself from the issue. “If Putin decides to go to Brazil, the decision to arrest him will be taken by the justice system, not the government or Congress,” Lula said.
Putin faced similar uncertainty two years ago ahead of the annual BRICS summit, then held in South Africa. South African officials reportedly came under considerable pressure from their Russian counterparts to provide assurances that the Kremlin strongman would be able to travel to the August 2023 event without fear of arrest. “Russia has made it clear that the arrest of its sitting president would be a declaration of war,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said ahead of the summit. The Africans ultimately failed to provide any assurances, prompting Putin to abandon his plans to attend.
In addition to Putin, the ICC has also issued arrest warrants for a number of high-ranking Russian officials since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In 2024, the court brought charges against former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Russian Army Commander-in-Chief Valery Gerasimov, Russian Air Force Long-Range Aviation Commander Sergei Kobylash, and Russian Black Sea Fleet Commander Viktor Sokolov for deliberately targeting Ukrainian civilians and bombing Ukraine’s civilian electrical grid.
While these charges were welcomed in Ukraine and elsewhere as a step towards justice, it is now considered unlikely that any of the named Russian war crimes suspects will be compelled to appear in The Hague. Instead, the ICC arrest warrants serve primarily as an inconvenience and a reminder that efforts are underway to hold senior Russian officials accountable for crimes committed during the invasion of Ukraine.
As the wheels of justice continue to turn slowly at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, Kyiv is also seeking alternative formats to prosecute Kremlin officials for invading Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky signed an agreement on June 25 with the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, the continent’s leading human rights body, to create a special tribunal that would prosecute Russian national leaders for the crime of aggression.
Once launched, the special tribunal could theoretically bring senior Russian figures, including Putin, to justice, but it would require a courage that has often been missing from Europe’s response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “It will take strong political and legal courage to make sure that every Russian war criminal is brought to justice, including Putin,” Zelensky said in Strasbourg.
Despite the mountain of evidence supporting allegations of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, it may be many years before Putin or any other senior Kremlin official faces even symbolic justice. This has left Ukrainians understandably frustrated and deeply disappointed. It will be of little comfort to them that Vladimir Putin can no longer travel abroad without first considering whether he risks being arrested for war crimes. Still, the Kremlin ruler’s failure to attend flagship events such as next week’s BRICS summit in Brazil is a personal embarrassment for Putin and a significant blow to Russia’s international prestige.
Peter Dickinson is editor of the Atlantic Council's UkraineAlert service.
Source: Source
