Lula: Putin won't be arrested at G20 Brazil Summit 2024
3 Min Read
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reassures that Putin would not face arrest in Brazil if he chooses to participate in the G20 gathering.
-
President Brazil Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva discusses with his advisors before the second session of the G20 leaders' meeting at Bharat Mandapam, New Delhi, India, on Saturday, September 9, 2023. (AFP)
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva stated on Saturday that Russian leader Vladimir Putin would not face arrest in Brazil if he attends the Group of 20 (G20) meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.
During an interview with the Firstpost news show on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Delhi, Lula mentioned that Putin would be invited to the upcoming event. He also expressed his own plans to attend a meeting of the BRICS group of developing nations scheduled to occur in Russia before the Rio meeting.
"I believe that Putin can go easily to Brazil," Lula said as quoted by Reuters.
"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," he added.
Here are the key takeaways from the first day of #G20 summit taking place in #India.#G20Summit2023 pic.twitter.com/ePxEzPa6eS
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) September 9, 2023
In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin, alleging that he committed the war crime of unlawfully displacing hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia has refuted these accusations, denying any involvement in war crimes or the forcible removal of Ukrainian children.
Since its inception, the ICC has often been biased as far as the investigation of crimes and the prosecution of individuals is concerned.
The West, led by the US, has orchestrated wars all across the Global South that have caused millions of children to go hungry, malnourished, displaced, and even killed, including in Yemen, where the US-led blockade has caused over two million children to suffer from acute malnutrition.
Yet, these issues have never been taken into consideration at the Hague-based ICC.
Read next: Biden says ICC’s case against Putin is ‘justified’
Divisions over Ukraine, climate are the highlight of G20 Summit
At the New Delhi Summit Declaration on Saturday, the G20 leaders released a statement of having different views of the war in Ukraine, but they jointly called for respect for the UN Charter.
Leaders of the G20, the world's biggest economies, stressed that the purposes and principles of the UN Charter must be abided by, especially regarding the war, noting that the G20 is not the platform to "resolve geopolitical and security issues."
"In line with the UN Charter, all states must refrain from the threat or use of force to seek territorial acquisition against the territorial integrity and sovereignty or political independence of any state," the declaration read, adding that "today's era must not be of war."
Meanwhile, the leaders of G20 nations said they are against using nuclear weapons or respective threats, according to a final declaration of the New Delhi summit of the group.
"The use or threat of use of nuclear weapons is inadmissible," the document read.
Simultaneously, a reform of the World Trade Organization (WTO) was urged "to improve all its functions through an inclusive member-driven process" to create "a fully and well-functioning dispute settlement system accessible to all members by 2024."
