The South African Ministry of Justice has sent prosecutors an arrest warrant for Putin in case he ever visits the country.

The High Court of Gauteng Province in South Africa said the country's Ministry of Justice has sent an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin to Director of Public Prosecutions Shamila Batohi. The court's statement is quoted by the local newspaper News24.

As News24 notes, this happened more than two months after the Department of International Relations and Cooperation handed over to the Ministry of Justice a warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) for the arrest of the Russian President Putin and the Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova is accused of deportation Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Russia.

South African prosecutors, which accept the ICC's jurisdiction, have gone to court to persuade the government to arrest Putin if he attends the BRICS summit in August.

on July 19 The President of South Africa announced that Putin would not attend the event in person. Instead, the Russian delegation in Johannesburg will be headed by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. After this, the opposition Democratic Alliance asked the court to oblige the government to arrest Putin at any time if he decides to visit South Africa.

In mid-July, the South African authorities asked Russia that its delegation be headed by Lavrov, not Putin. As said South African Vice President Paul Mashatile , Russia initially rejected this request. Then Mashatile noted that negotiations with the Russian authorities were continuing and that South Africa “will be happy if he (Putin - MZ) does not come.”