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Something tells me the weight on our government’s shoulders right now will be too much to bear.

VICE just asked the very public question: ‘Will Vladimir Putin Be Arrested in South Africa?’ noting how in the coming months, the South African government will need to face this massive, history-making decision.

Last week, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin over allegations he conducted the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

The opportunity to exercise this arrest warrant is very much on SA’s shoulders, as it is one of the few countries that’s signed up to the 1998 Rome Statute, which established the ICC in 1998 must arrest Putin if he steps into their country.

Putin is due to visit our land later this year in August.

He is set to participate in a summit of BRICS nations – a group of emerging economies including Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

This is not an easy decision considering how Dmitry Medvedev, the former president and prime minister of Russia, said that an arrest would mean total war:

“Let’s imagine – it’s clear that this is a situation that will never happen – but nevertheless let’s imagine it does,” Medvedev said in a video posted on Telegram. “The current head of a nuclear state arrives on the territory of, say, Germany, and is arrested. What is this? A declaration of war against the Russian Federation.”

He added: “All of our means, rockets and others, will fly on the Bundestag, in the Chancellor’s Office and so on.”

South Africa has kept some political ties with Russia since the start of the war in Ukraine, with President Cyril Ramaphosa claiming to believe that SA can play a pivotal part in peace talks.

That is why, he said, South Africa was one of 15 African countries that abstained from a UN vote condemning Russia’s invasion.

A spokesperson for Ramaphosa acknowledged South Africa’s dilemma, but left room for a final decision. “We are, as the government, cognisant of our legal obligation,” spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said. “However, between now and the summit we will remain engaged with various relevant stakeholders.”

We won’t put it past Putin that he is probably having second thoughts about coming over here.

Not that uncle Cyril is very forthcoming and go-getting, and not that SA has been very good at fulfilling its ICC duties:

In 2016, judges at the ICC condemned South Africa for failing in its obligations to arrest the then-wanted Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir when he attended an African leader’s summit in 2015.

Still, with that big VICE question out in the open, and talks with stakeholders in the works, it is fair to assume Putin won’t come.

If he does, well, we’ll have to cross that monumental bridge when we get there.

[source:vice]