South African Communist Party spokesperson, Dr Alex Mashilo has expressed his disappointment after the government announced that Russian President Vladimir Putin won't attend the BRICS summit next month.

Furthermore, Dr Alex indicated that even though they are not happy, they welcome the decision that the Russians will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Moreover, he expressed that what matters is peace and BRICS summit to be successful without any fights.

This comes after International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and its Commissioner for violating Children’s Rights for the war crimes of illegal deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.