(CNN) – Russian President Vladimir Putin will attend the BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, via video technology, in late August, Russian news agency RIA Novosti reported Wednesday, citing the Kremlin.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that Putin would not attend the summit, saying that Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov would attend instead.
The leaders of Brazil, India and China are still expected to attend in person.
Since the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin for war crimes in Ukraine in March, South African leaders have issued conflicting statements about the country’s obligation to arrest Putin if he appears.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute, which governs the work of the International Criminal Court, South Africa is obliged to arrest individuals indicted by the ICC.
In 2015, South African officials failed to arrest then-Sudan President Omar al-Bashir when they visited the country.
The decision is a blow to the Kremlin, which has sought to show that Russia and its president are not isolated in their invasion of Ukraine.
The South African government has been heavily criticized by Western diplomats for its alignment with Russia since the beginning of the conflict. South African officials have long maintained their country is neutral, but have refused to condemn Russia in a UN General Assembly vote.
Earlier this year, the Chinese and Russian navies held war games and were accused by the US ambassador of loading weapons onto a sanctioned Russian ship in December last year. South Africa has denied any wrongdoing.
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