President Putin pulls out of 15th BRICS summit

The SA Presidency has announced that President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin will not attend the 15th Summit of BRICS scheduled to take place in Johannesburg on August 22-23.

Russia will be represented by the Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, the Presidency confirmed.

“By mutual agreement, President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation will not attend the Summit, but the Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister, Mr Sergey Lavrov,” the Presidency said.

Cyril Ramaphosa has in recent weeks held a number of consultations on the hosting of the Summit. The South African President’s most recent consultation in this regard took place on Tuesday night at the BRICS Political Party Dialogue in Gauteng.

Ramaphosa confirmed South Africa’s readiness to host the 15th Summit of the BRICS nations – Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa. This will be the first BRICS Summit to be hosted in person since the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent global restrictions.

“President Ramaphosa is confident that the Summit will be a success and calls on the nation to extend the necessary hospitality to the many delegates who will arrive from various parts of the continent and the globe,” the Presidency appealed.

A comprehensive statement on the substantive issues to be covered at the Summit and other related foreign policy matters will be issued in due course, the Presidency noted.