Putin set to skip G20 summit in Brazil

Russian leader Vladimir Putin says he will not attend the Group of 20 summit in Brazil, where he could be arrested under an International Criminal Court warrant.

The Russian dictator announced this on Friday, Ukrinform reports citing Astra.

Should he choose to travel to Brazil, “all talk would revolve around this”, thus forum’s work would be interrupted.

"We will find someone who will represent our country’s interests at a high level," added the head of the Kremlin.

At the same time, he stated that Russia has "very good" relations with Brazil.

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As reported, Brazil sent Putin a standard invitation to the G20 summit, which will be held in Rio de Janeiro on November 18-19.

Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin called on Brazil to execute an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin should he dare come to the G20 summit.

In March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin on charges of war crimes, including the illegal removal of children from Ukraine and the illegal transfer of Ukrainians to Russia.

Read also: ICC spokesman: judges yet to publish results of probe into Mongolia's failure to arrest Putin

In September, the Russian dictator visited Mongolia, a country that has ratified the Rome Statute and should have arrested him on the ICC warrant but ultimately failed to follow through on the obligation.

Mongolia explained its inaction with own energy dependence, which makes it difficult to arrest the Russian dictator on the ICC warrant.