‘Arresting Putin would be declaration of war with Russia,’ Ramaphosa warns

President Cyril Ramaposa’s confidential affidavit has revealed that arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war with Russia if he travelled to South Africa for the Brics summit in August.

Ramaphosa also told the High Court in Gauteng that South Africa does not have the capacity nor appetite to wage war with Russia and Putin.

The court on Tuesday ordered Ramaphosa to make public his answering affidavit on the Democratic Alliance’s (DA) application to force government to arrest Putin.

Declaration of war

In the affidavit, which has since been made public, Ramaphosa confirmed that the government has initiated article 97 proceedings with the International Criminal Court (ICC) where it has indicated problems that impede or prevent the execution of the warrant of arrest issued against Putin. 

“I must highlight, for the sake of transparency, that South Africa has obvious problems with executing a request to arrest and surrender President Putin. Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war,” said Ramaphosa.

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“It would be a reckless, unconstitutional and unlawful exercise of the powers conferred upon the government to declare war with Russia by arresting President Putin.

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Protecting SA

Ramaphosa also added that South Africa does not want to go to war with Russia.

“It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia. I have constitutional obligations to protect the national sovereignty, peace and security of the republic, and to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of the people of the republic to life, safety and security, among other rights in the Bill of Rights,” he said.

Ramaphosa quoted a Rome Statute article when he argued for his affidavit to be confidential.

“The requested state  shall keep confidential a request for co-operation and any documents supporting the request confidential, except to the extent that the disclosure is necessary to the execution of the request,” it states.

South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which governs the ICC.

Ramaphosa welcomes judgment

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa said he was never opposed to making his confidential answering affidavit public.

Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the Presidency has welcomed the decision of the Johannesburg High Court.

“President Ramaphosa was never opposed to making the affidavits public; it was only in compliance with the ICC directive that the Presidency sought to maintain confidentiality on the affidavit.”

The ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin in March, accusing him of war crimes relating to Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine since February last year.

ALSO READ: Putin will need protection if he attends Brics summit