Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, will no longer be present at the BRICS Summit in August. Instead, the Russian Federation will be represented by Sergey Lavrov, its foreign minister. This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa had earlier claimed that detaining Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is sought by the International Criminal Court, would constitute a declaration of war in an answering affidavit to a DA suit in the Johannesburg High Court. According to Ramaphosa, it is his constitutional duty to uphold the republic's peace and national sovereignty. If Putin showed up for the Brics conference, which South Africa will host in August, the DA had petitioned the court to order the government to place him under arrest. South Africa's relations with the West have recently deteriorated. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Gustavo de Carvalho Senior Researcher at South African Institute of International Affairs