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RAMAPHOSA QUANDARY

Putin to stay away from BRICS Summit in Joburg, will send Lavrov instead

After weeks of consultations, President Ramaphosa has confirmed that the BRICS Summit will go ahead without the attendance of Russian President Vladimir Putin, but with the presence of leaders from Brazil, India, China and South Africa.
Putin to stay away from BRICS Summit in Joburg, will send Lavrov instead Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (Photo Spencer Platt/Getty Images) |President Cyril Ramaphosa. (Siyabulela Duda/GCIS) . Russian President Vladimir Putin. (EPA-EFE/Ramil Sitdikov / Sputnik / Government Press Service
Queenin Masuabi
By Queenin Masuabi
19 Jul 2023
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The Cyril Ramaphosa Presidency has formally announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be attending the BRICS Summit. 

In a statement issued on Wednesday morning, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the Russian Federation would be represented by its foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov. 

“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,” it read.

“In due course, a comprehensive statement on the substantive issues to be covered at the summit and other related foreign policy matters will be issued.” 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Pretoria’s Putin puzzle — South Africa once again on the horns of an ICC dilemma

This announcement comes after weeks of consultations about the summit. The President’s most recent consultation in this regard took place last night, Tuesday, 18 July 2023, at the BRICS Political Party Dialogue in Gauteng.

Read more in Daily Maverick: Arresting Putin risks engaging in war with Russia, President Ramaphosa warns on national security

The summit will be attended by the leaders of other member countries – Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

“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 statement reads. DM

Comments (10)

Cobble Dickery Jul 19, 2023, 04:38 PM

Illogical obfuscation, of course, but too mild. It was a simple no brainer, taking about 10 min to arrange. But then: no brains, and of course, if there was an opportuntiy for corruption, this obviously had to be explored.

Walter Spatula Jul 19, 2023, 04:52 PM

Putin never intended to come, but it amused him to make the little ANC fools squirm.

George Evans Jul 19, 2023, 08:16 PM

I had a similar thought.

John Counihan Jul 19, 2023, 05:29 PM

What a horrible organisation is the ANC! Not a shred of integrity. Bumble from one crisis to the next. They should arrest Labrov as an accessory to Putin's crimes.

Johan Buys Jul 19, 2023, 06:10 PM

Quick : how do we arrange an arrest warrant for Lavrov?

Peter Watts Jul 19, 2023, 06:24 PM

Paranoid funk will keep him away. Warmongering coward. And he's our friend? Who needs enemies with "friends" like this? He's no friend of common decency, humanity or enlightenment. Just a companion of cutthroats rogues and other criminal riffraff. Makes me want to puke. And yet some among us, like Zuma, run to him to escape justice "for their health" after wrecking the ecenomy of the country. Depite the best efforts of the ANC government there are still highly competent medical practitioners in South Africa to dance attendance on Jacob's medical maladies, so why subject himself, at vast expense to taxpayers, to some Russian medics who are probably no better qualified than our doctors. Oh , and if they are better qualified than our guys then you can safely lay blame for that at the door of the ANC government's ignorant interference in stuff they are ill qualified to mess with. Read about the real reasons for load shedding and "trough feeding" in Andre de Ruyter's "Truth To Power". Hierarchy in the governing party loves things and prestige more than the people who vote for them. Opposition politicians preach to their converted in terms the converted understand. Time to understand the unconverted guys, and time to build fences to save the country from the current debacle that is in our faces daily. Monumental greed, arrrogance and incompetence must be sidelined. I'm going to check the Oxford dictionary for a definition of "KRAPTOCRACY". If I don't find it I'll try Wackhead!

jairo.arrow Jul 19, 2023, 07:13 PM

The Czar got cold feet!

Stephen Paul Jul 19, 2023, 08:10 PM

Ah yes. Lavrov. As much a lying war criminal as Putin. We should be so grateful. Does anybody know what BRICS does to improve the lives of South Africans ? I mean those who do not have enough "to eat"

Coen Gous Jul 19, 2023, 11:33 PM

Just looking at the photograph, it is like the three stooges, ala world criminals

Iam Fedup Jul 20, 2023, 05:01 AM

Just when we thought that Ramaphosa and the ANC could not get any stupider, they did! Liars and cowards, all wrapped into one package.

Marko Van der Cowell Jul 20, 2023, 10:49 PM

So Cyril you think you are a Statesman? Great to see your influence on the Ukraine grain export deal collapse which will leave millions of your fellow Africans short of vital supplies this year. The hunger blood is on your hands