Putin was the target of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued in March over alleged war crimes for the deportation of Ukrainian children.

Since then, he has not traveled to all countries and missed international meetings such as the G20 summit ending today in New Delhi, where he was represented by Foreign Minister Serguei Lavrov.

Lula da Silva guaranteed, in an interview with Indian television, that Putin would be invited to visit Rio de Janeiro.

“I can say that if I were President of Brazil and he came to Brazil, there would be no reason for him to be arrested,” Lula said, quoted by French news agency AFP.

Moscow denied the ICC’s accusations, and declared the arrest warrant against the Russian leader “null and void”.

The alleged crimes were committed as part of the war that Russia started with its invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Brazil is a signatory to the Rome Statute of 1998, an international treaty that led to the creation of the ICC in 2002. This means that, theoretically, the Russian President should be detained if he enters Brazilian territory.

Lula warned that leaders of BRICS, a bloc of emerging countries that includes Brazil and Russia, would meet on Russian territory before the next G20 summit.

“Everyone will attend the BRICS summit, so I hope they come to the G20 summit in Brazil. In Brazil they will feel a climate of peace,” said Lula.

“We like taking care of people. “Therefore, I think Putin can easily come to Brazil,” he added.

The G20 brings together Germany, South Africa, Saudi Arabia, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, South Korea, the United States, France, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the European Union.

The African Union was accepted as a member of the group on Saturday.

PNG//ZO

By Impala News / The Day After Tomorrow

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