Cape Town, 19 July 2023 (dpa/MIA) - Moscow has warned South Africa that arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin would be tantamount to a "declaration of war," according to an affidavit published by South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday.

"Russia has made it clear that the arrest of its sitting president would be tantamount to a declaration of war," wrote Ramaphosa in the statement to the Supreme Court in South Africa's northern Gauteng province.

South Africa therefore has "obvious problems with the implementation of a request for the arrest and extradition of President Putin."

The Russian leader has been invited to Johannesburg for a summit of the BRICS countries, as Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa are known, from August 22 to 24, despite an international arrest warrant.

South Africa is facing increasing international pressure to confirm that it would execute the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) should Putin attend the summit. South Africa has signed the statutes of the world criminal court, but has so far not made a clear statement on the proceedings.

The court in The Hague issued the arrest warrant for Putin in March, for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa said that he could not justify "taking the risk of war with Russia" to the South African people. Rather, he was committed to "protecting the national sovereignty, peace and security" of South Africa, Ramaphosa said.

South Africa had therefore applied to the ICC for an exemption.

South Africa had already come under criticism in 2015 when it refused to arrest the then Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir and hand him over to the ICC.

Photo: MIA archive