Putin is now having sleepless nights.

In my blog entry (Monday, 24 April 2023) I wrote that,

“South African authorities will have to grapple with whether to enforce an International Criminal Court warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin if he follows through on plans to attend the BRICS Summit — which also includes Brazil, India and China — this August in Johannesburg.” (ibid Dylan Robertson)

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa (left) now finds himself in a rather difficult and tricky political position on this issue.

Is the Rieaz Shaik interview (Dylan Robertson), in which the political position of South Africa towards Putin’s war with Ukraine was made internationally public, a prelude to laying the political ground for Putin to attend the BRICS conference in South Africa without having to be arrested? “

This issue has now taken centre stage on the International political scene.

As reported by Inquirer.net,

“South Africa is mulling its options over an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin should he accept an invitation to a BRICS summit in August, a South African government official said.

A member of the ICC, South Africa would theoretically be required to arrest Putin under the warrant issued in March by the court, which accused him of the war crime of forcibly deporting children from Russian-occupied territory in Ukraine.” (Inquirer.net  (Reuters) : 1 June 2023) (my emphasis)

WION : 31 May 2023 : YouTube

Indeed, as reported by vnexplorer,

“South Africa is exploring the possibility of moving the BRICS summit in August to China to avoid the legal dilemma it faces of having to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits South Africa, officials say.
…
South African official sources confirmed that Pretoria was in fact seriously considering moving the summit to China — with a second option to hold the summit virtually — for all the five presidents of the bloc, which also includes China, India and Brazil.” (vnexplorer : 2 June 2023) (my emphasis)

As also reported by Mouad Boudina,

“In a statement of utmost importance, South Africa’s Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor, (left) expressed that the legal intricacies surrounding the potential engagement of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the forthcoming summit of the esteemed BRICS group of nations, scheduled for August, are presently under meticulous examination by the South African government.” (weafrica24 : 1 June 2023) (my emphasis)

Let us remind ourselves that, as reported by Yevhen Kizilov (right),

“Ukrainian children who have been illegally deported to Russia are given new names and dates of birth as Russia makes every effort to force them to forget their native country.” (Ukrainska Pravda : 31 May 2023) (my emphasis)

Iryna Vereshchuk, Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister, is quoted as saying,

“[Ukrainian children] are taken to all corners of Russia, where their identities are changed; they are given new names, surnames, and dates of birth. [Russia is] making every effort to assimilate them, in essence committing an act of genocide against our children, by forcibly russifying them, giving them [Russian] passports, and doing everything to make these children forget their homeland, their language, and their culture, and to make them accept, as [Russia] puts it, a new reality.” (ibid Yevhen Kizilov)

It is this crime of Putin’s that Naledi Pandor is now ‘legally’ attempting to sweep under the carpet of the upcoming BRICS summit in Johannesberg.

Putin, however, may have to let South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, off the ICC hook by preferring to stay in Russia as the people of Moscow get a small taste of what Ukrainians have been suffering under for months viz. lethal drones dropping over their heads.

As reported by Andrew Roth and Pjotr Sauer,

“Moscow has been targeted with a large-scale drone attack for the first time in its 15-month-old war in Ukraine, marking a new inflection point in the conflict, with the Kremlin threatening to take the “harshest possible measures” in response to the strikes.

Russia continues to pummel Ukraine with deadly missile and drone strikes on a near-daily basis. Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, faced its third air raid in 24 hours on Tuesday morning.” (The Guardian : 30 May 2023) (my emphasis)

Guardian News : 31 May 2023 : YouTube

Furthermore, Putin’s growing precarious hold on power may be making him wary of a possible ‘coup’ if he leaves Russia.  

As reported by Tom Watling,

“The international war criminal [Yevgeny Prigozhin (left)] once known as “Putin’s chef” has launched an extraordinary attack describing the Russian leader as a “complete a**hole moron”.
…
In his latest rant, he accused the Russian war cabinet of “collecting [artillery shells] in warehouses … instead of spending a shell to kill the enemy and save the lives of our soldiers”.

He then accused the “happy grandfather” [Putin] of “thinking this is good for him”, adding that while he may be proved right, if he is not, it will make him “a complete a**hole moron”. (Express : 10 May 2023) (my emphasis)

If Putin’s worries about a ‘coup’ against him if he should attend the BRICS summit in South Africa, even more worrying for him, as reported by Patrick Tucker,

“NATO is unlikely to vote to admit Ukraine as a member when the alliance summit convenes in July, but it ought to offer the beleaguered country “concrete and tangible security guarantees,” French President Emmanuel Macron (right) said Wednesday.
…
“I think we have to build something between the security provided to Israel and a full fledged membership,” he said. “I think we need to talk concrete and tangible security guarantees.”  (Defense One : 31 May 2023) (my emphasis)

Channel 4 News : 2 June 2023 : YouTube

And as reported by Missy Ryan, Catherine Belton and Emily Rauhala,

“The Biden administration and its NATO allies are developing plans for securing ongoing military support to Ukraine beyond the country’s current offensive, hoping that long-term security pacts will create a strong deterrent against future Russian aggression and potentially alter the battlefield calculus of President Vladimir Putin.” (Washington Post : 1 June 2023)  (my emphasis)

The shadows dancing around his bunker walls at night is now giving Putin sleepless nights.

UPDATE 1 : 3 June 2023

 Eirian Jane Prosser reports that,

“A woman who claimed for years to be the secret mother of Vladimir Putin has died in poverty age 97, it was revealed today.

Vera Putina for decades said the Russian President was her son, born to her after she had an affair with a married man.

The dictator has never publicly acknowledged these claims, despite the woman producing pictures of her son, which showed an uncanny resemblance to the now 70-year-old Russian leader.” (Mail Online : 1 June 2023) (my emphasis)

In my blog entry of (5/12/2014) I wrote that,

“But before we consider some of the highlights of his speech (Dec. 4, 2014) which could, indeed, have been written by Stalin himself, let us pause for a moment to listen to the words of   Vera Putina, who has always claimed to be his real mother.” (blog entry : 5/12/2014)

In a later blog entry (8/10/2016) I wrote that,

“Given the fact that Putin has always lied to the world about his real mother, Vera Putina [1] [2] [3], and that he invented a story about ‘a cornered rat‘ that he found in his surrogate parents’ flat in St. Petersburg, it should come as no surprise that, being now cornered himself on the international stage, he is dangerously lashing out, bringing the world precipitously to the brink of war. (blog entry : 8/10/2016)

The above links [2], and [3] point to the reporters who investigated the truth about Putin’s real mother, and who subsequently were killed and/or died under suspicious circumstances.

  Putin & real Mother                        Putin and classmates in Georgia