Putin will not be arrested if he attends G20 Summit in Rio: Brazil President

As Brazil takes over the rotational presidency of G20 in December, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has assured that his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, will not be arrested if he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Putin was conspicuous by his absence at the G20 Summit as world leaders gathered in New Delhi for the two-day event in New Delhi. He had also skipped the BRICS meeting in Johannesburg following a row over whether South Africa would be forced to arrest Putin under an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.

The ICC issued a warrant in March against Putin over accusations of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children, a war crime. The Kremlin, however, insists the warrant against Putin is "void".

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Even though Brazil is an ICC signatory, Lula, speaking to news network Firstpost on Saturday, said Putin would be invited to next year's event in Rio de Janeiro.

"We enjoy peace and we like to treat people well. So I believe Putin can go easily to Brazil," he said.

"If I'm the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there's no way that he will be arrested."

Lula also said that he would attend a BRICS bloc of developing nations summit in Russia next year.

The G20 Summit in India comes amid fraught relations between Moscow and the West over the conflict in Ukraine, which caused deep tensions at last year's summit in Bali.

The West was pushing for stronger condemnation of the war in Ukraine in the G20 communique but climbed down to reach a consensus on the Delhi Declaration. The G20 nations adopted a declaration that avoided condemning Moscow for the war in Ukraine but called on all states to refrain from using force to grab territory.

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