Government will not oppose Putin’s visit even if convicted, says minister

Minister Mauro Vieira, of Foreign Affairs, stated this Friday (22) that the government of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) will not oppose Vladimir Putin’s visit to Brazil at the G20 and Brics meetings, scheduled for the next year.

Putin was convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes against Ukraine, and could be arrested in countries that are signatories to the Court – including Brazil. The possibility of arrest had already been mentioned by Lula at the beginning of the month during his trip to Germany, in which the president stated that the Russian leader was the one who should assess the consequences.

Mauro Vieira stated that the invitation to Putin has been made and that he must assess the risks, and that, so far, he has not traveled to any of the multilateral summits that Russia is part of following the ICC convictions. However, he said that the International Court is discussing the possibility of reviewing the sentencing procedures for heads of state.

“Within the ICC there are discussions regarding the treatment of serving heads of state. We will take all this into account and obviously we will not take any initiative. But, if there is any movement in the courts, if something happens, we will have to examine it at the moment. We are members of the ICC”, he stated in an interview with BandNews TV.

Mauro Vieira said that Putin’s presence in Brazil at these meetings will depend not only on the Russian president himself, but also on the understanding of the International Court itself. The minister also said that there is no possibility of the country ceasing to be a signatory to the ICC, as he was one of the body’s founders.

Still in relation to Brazil’s dialogue with other countries, the minister stated that he does not see the possibility of any military intensification between Venezuela and Guyana over the dispute over the Essequibo region, in which the country acted as a mediator.

Mauro Vieira also said that there are no more scheduled repatriation flights from the conflict between Israel and Hamas for Brazilian citizens and relatives in Gaza other than the one that will land in Brazil this Saturday morning (23).

This last flight of Operation Returning in Peace will bring 30 people and land at Brasília Air Base at 7:30 am.

If there are more ransom demands, the government should use commercial flights. Since the beginning of the operation in the conflict area, the government has repatriated more than 1,500 people.