According to RFR reports, the BRICS summit will be held in Johannesburg, South Africa from August 22 to 24. The South African government has issued an invitation to Russian President Putin, who initiated the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, South Africa’s largest opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, has successfully forced the South African government to promise that if Putin steps into South Africa, he will arrest Putin.
The High Court in Pretoria, the administrative capital of South Africa, confirmed on Friday (July 21) that the South African government has agreed to execute the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Putin if he sets foot in South Africa, the report said. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on March 17 this year, accusing him of being responsible for the illegal deportation and kidnapping of Ukrainian children during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and stated that the 123 member states of the International Criminal Court are obliged to arrest Putin when he sets foot on their territory and hand him over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The South African government once refused on the grounds that the country does not need to fulfill its obligations to the International Criminal Court, because arresting Putin would be tantamount to declaring war on Russia, which would bring war risks to South Africa. However, after the South African Ministry of Justice issued an arrest warrant, the South African government agreed to execute the arrest warrant.
Subsequently, the South African government announced that Putin would attend the BRICS summit through an online speech; in this regard, the South African Democratic Union requested the South African government that Putin should be arrested whenever Putin travels to South Africa, and the South African government also agreed to this request.
Prominent Russian military blogger arrested for calling on Putin to step down
Igor Girkin, a prominent Russian military blogger who was convicted of murder by a court in The Hague for shooting down a Malaysia Airlines airliner during Russia’s military operation in Donetsk, eastern Ukraine, was arrested this week for his online calls for Putin’s resignation.
According to a BBC report, Gilkin’s wife said on Friday (July 21) that Gilkin was arrested at her home when she was not at home.
Gilkin, 53, was an intelligence colonel of the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) and played an important role in Russia’s 2014 annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea campaign. In 2014, he briefly served as the defense minister of the self-declared “independent” Donetsk People’s Republic.
According to the report, Gilkin originally supported Putin’s “special military operation” against Ukraine in February last year, but with the Russian army in trouble on the battlefield, he and a group of ex-soldiers joined an “angry patriot club” to vent their dissatisfaction with the war situation online.
He left a message on the Internet last year: “We have lost this war.” This Tuesday (July 18) he even called Putin “insignificant” in his blog, and said that “the country can no longer bear the leadership of this insignificant and cowardly person for six years.” “
Russia’s Investigative Committee arrested him on Friday for using the internet to launch “extremist activities” and he appeared in court.
Earlier this week, retired former Russian intelligence officer Vladimir Kvachkov, who was also a member of the Angry Patriots Club, was accused of smearing the Russian military.
Agentstvo, a Russian investigative website, therefore believes that the Russian authorities have changed the unwritten rules that allow pro-war bloggers to vent their grievances online.
Ukrainian intelligence services welcomed the news of Jierkin’s arrest, which they saw as a sign of infighting within Russia.
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2023-07-21 23:54:49
