Brazilian president says Russian leader will be invited to the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has said that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not be arrested in Brazil if he attends the Group of 20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.
Lula, speaking to the Firstpost news show at the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Delhi on Saturday, said Putin would be invited to next year’s event.
He added that he himself planned to attend a BRICS bloc of developing nations meeting due in Russia before the Rio meeting.
“I believe that Putin can go easily to Brazil,” Lula said. “What I can say to you is that if I’m president of Brazil, and he comes to Brazil, there’s no way he will be arrested.”
The statement comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.
I don't think any sane country would arrest Putin. Deny him entry sure. But not arrest him. Declaring war on Russia, even if they are a paper tiger today, is not going to be in anybody's best interest
Exceptions for Ukraine and Poland. They would absolutely arrest Putin on sight.
World war 3 is going to be a total downer for everyone, most countries will want to avoid it, or at least try not to be the one to start it.
Not to mention the president of a country travels as a diplomat. Arresting diplomats is something that's frowned upon internationally.
Arresting the president of a country, or kidnapping the president of a country, is a pretty clear declaration of war.
Let's say by some miracle war doesn't immediately break out, well the country you've just pissed off has a bunch of hostages immediately available, all of your diplomats and citizens in their borders. As much as we want to talk about rule of law, at the international level between countries it's all about capabilities.
I think it's not necessarily whether countries would or wouldn't arrest him. It's more, if he's invited to a summit or otherwise making travel arraignments, he gets confirmation they don't intend to arrest him. If a country doesn't commit to not arresting him, he just wouldn't go. If a country says they won't arrest him, then arrest him, it calls into question that country's diplomacy.
Because if they arrest him, there could easily be bloodshed outside of Ukraine. As much as nato countries are happy to support Ukraine currently, they aren't interested in inviting conflict to their own borders
Yeah. Putin would absolutely have diplomatic immunity as a head of state visiting another country. Arresting him would put the whole concept of diplomatic immunity at risk.
That's for domestic crimes. International crimes like genocide, torture and other war crimes have no functional immunity for a head of state. Pinochet for example.
International law is fairly optional. Will there be consequences if he doesn’t have Putin arrested? I doubt it.
Also, the South African president tried to make the same statement that he wouldn’t be arrested, but the local government said they would do it, so he was forced to uninvite Putin.
It will be interesting to see if a similar dynamic unfolds, but I think the internal politics of Brazil are rather different.