Russian president Vladimir Putin will no longer attend a meeting in South Africa in August, according to President of South Africa Cyril Ramaphosa.

The arrest of the Russian president is required by an order from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

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In order to attend a conference of the BRICS countries—Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa—President Putin was scheduled to visit the nation in August.

Should he show up, the Democratic Alliance, the largest opposition party in South Africa, petitioned the courts to order his arrest.

However, in court-received documents, this can’t happen, declared President Ramaphosa, because “Russia has made clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war.”

Later on, he said that he and President Putin had ‘mutually’ decided that he should not attend. Sergei Lavrov, the foreign minister of Russia, will be present instead.

South Africa should imprison suspects on its soil as a signatory to the court, but President Ramaphosa cautioned that Russia might see this as an act of war.

The Geneva Conventions and other international treaties and legislation specify the rules of war.

Ukraine has accused Russian forces of committing more than 400 war crimes in the Kherson region between March and November 2022.  In addition, the UN says Russia could be responsible for “crimes against humanity” by attacking civilian infrastructure such as power stations and dams. Russia has denied all allegations of war crimes or targeting civilians.

Rules of war crime:

“Crimes against humanity” or, in some cases, “genocide” are serious crimes including murder, rape, or the mass persecution of a people.

Military forces are not allowed to purposefully target civilians or the infrastructure on which they rely, such as power plants.

Some weapons, including chemical and biological weapons as well as anti-personnel landmines, are prohibited.

Care must be given to the sick and injured, especially wounded troops who have rights as prisoners of war.

The Hague-based ICC was established to look into war crimes and crimes against humanity.