Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday (9/9) that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be detained if he attended the meeting of the Group of 20 largest economies in the world or G20 in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Interviewed on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Delhi by Firstpost, Lula said Putin would be invited to the event next year. He added he planned to attend a meeting of the developing countries bloc, BRICS, which will be held in Russia before the meeting in Rio de Janeiro.
“I believe that Putin can freely go to Brazil,” said Lula. “All I can tell you is if I were President of Brazil, and he came to Brazil, there’s no way he would be arrested.”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin last March on charges of war crimes for deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has denied that its troops were involved in war crimes or forcibly taking Ukrainian children.
Putin has repeatedly been absent from a number of international meetings and was absent from the G20 meeting in Delhi. Instead he sent Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Brazil co-signed the Rome Statute which formed the basis for the establishment of the ICC. Lula’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
On Saturday, the G20 nations agreed to a consensus declaration that did not include criticism of Russia over the war in Ukraine. However, the declaration calls on all countries not to use force to seize territory. (ft/ah)