President Vladimir V. Putin will not attend a diplomatic summit in Johannesburg next month, South Africa’s President announced on Wednesday, a decision that allows the host nation to avoid the difficult predicament of whether to arrest the Russian leader, who is the subject of an international warrant.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa had said in a court affidavit made public on Tuesday that his country would risk war with Russia if it arrested Putin at the summit.

The decision for Putin not to attend was made “by mutual agreement”, according to a statement released by Ramaphosa’s office. Russia will instead be represented by its foreign minister, Sergey V. Lavrov, the statement said.

The news caps a tense few months for South African officials, who painstakingly deliberated over how to proceed, given that their government considers Russia a close friend and ally. South African officials were forced to weigh that alliance against its relationship with western partners, which has been strained lately because of South Africa’s refusal to condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine.

Ramaphosa’s court affidavit was the clearest indication yet that South Africa was seeking any way possible to avoid arresting Putin when it hosts a long-planned meeting of the heads of state of Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, a bloc known as BRICS.

Putin is the subject of an arrest warrant on accusations related to the war in Ukraine by the International Criminal Court. The warrant makes South Africa, as a signatory to the court, legally obliged to arrest the Russian president. Russia “has made it clear” that arresting Putin “would be a declaration of war”, Ramaphosa said in his affidavit.

“It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia,” Ramaphosa wrote in the 32-page affidavit.

Ramaphosa was responding to a petition by South Africa’s largest Opposition party, the Democratic Alliance, that asked a court in Pretoria to force the government to arrest Putin if he attended the summit, in Johannesburg, in late August. The court is expected to hear arguments in the case on Friday.

New York Times News Service