Putin overshadows BRICS talks as S Africa mulls arrest warrant options

CAPE TOWN, June 1: A meeting of foreign ministers from the BRICS countries in South Africa on Thursday was overshadowed by questions about whether Russian President Vladimir Putin would be arrested if he attended a summit of the five-nation bloc in August.

South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said it was mulling legal options if Putin, the subject of a war crimes arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC), did attend the planned Johannesburg summit.

As a member of the ICC, South Africa would theoretically be required to arrest Putin if he attended, and Pandor was bombarded with questions about the issue as she arrived for a first round of talks with representatives from Russia, China, India and Brazil.
"Our government is currently looking at what the legal options are with respect to this matter," she told reporters.    �REUTERS