Brazil’s Lula says Russian President Putin would not be arrested in 2024 Brazil G-20 meeting
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Brazil's President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva (left) also said Mr Vladimir Putin would be invited to the 2024 event.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NEW DELHI - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said on Saturday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would not be arrested in Brazil if he attends the Group of 20 (G-20) meeting in Rio de Janeiro in 2024.
Interviewed on the sidelines of the G-20 meeting in Delhi by news show Firstpost, Mr Lula said Mr Putin would be invited to the 2024 event, adding 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," Mr 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 International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Mr Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has denied its forces have engaged in war crimes, or forcibly taken Ukrainian children.
Mr Putin has repeatedly skipped international gatherings, and was not present at the G-20 get-together in Delhi, sending Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which led to the founding of the ICC.
India is not a member of the ICC.
On Saturday, the G-20 nations adopted a consensus declaration that avoided condemning Russia for the war in Ukraine but called on all states not to use force to grab territory. REUTERS, AFP