Vladimir Putin appeared to brush off the international arrest warrant out against him on Friday, claiming it would be easy to “circumvent”.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague first announced its warrant out for the Russian president in March 2023 over alleged war crimes including the forced deportation of Ukrainian children.
Although Russia itself is not a signatory of the statute and has denied the claims against Putin, the move has largely prevented the president from travelling to ICC countries over the last 18 months in case they arrest him on the Hague’s behalf.
But, according to the Russian leader, he does not have to worry about that with Brazil.
“I have wonderful friendly relations with [Brazilian] president Lula [da Silva],” Putin told reporters on Friday.
Still, he revealed that he is not planning on attending its Group of 20 leading economies’ meeting next month.
He told the press: “Why would I go there on purpose to disrupt the normal work of this forum?”
He then suggested Russia could bypass the arrest warrant by signing a bilateral agreement with Brazil.
“Decisions of this kind are very easy to circumvent, it is enough to sign an intergovernmental agreement and that’s it – the jurisdiction of the ICC will be limited,” Putin said, according to Reuters news agency.
But, apparently feeling cautious, he added: “We are adults so we will find someone in Russia who will worthily present the interests of our country in Brazil.”
Rui de Janeiro did issue the Russian president a standard invite to the G20 summit earlier this year, as is customary for the summit’s host country.
Brazil’s Lula da Silva said the decision to detain Putin would be up to his country’s judiciary.
Kyiv has urged Brazil to arrest Putin if he attends the G20 summit, although there is no enforced mechanism for ICC countries to act.
And Putin visited an ICC signatory country for the first time since the warrant was issued in September when he travelled to Mongolia.
The move with international frustration from Ukraine’s allies, and a small group of protesters held up a sign reading, “get war criminal Putin out of here” when he arrived.
Ukraine called it a “well-planned provocation” at the time, saying Putin was trying to show he was indifferent to the law.
A Mongolia government spokesperson shrugged off criticism, noting that the country is reliant on Russia for its energy supply and has always maintained neutrality in all diplomatic relations.
Putin did decide to skip a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) summit in South Africa last year after reaching a “mutual agreement” with the country’s government and attended online instead.
Luckily for the isolated leader, the BRICS summit of emerging economies is being held in Russia this year.