World leaders convened in New Delhi for the two-day G20 Summit, but Putin was noticeably absent from the gathering. Due to a disagreement over whether South Africa would be required to detain Putin in accordance with an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant, he also skipped the BRICS summit in Johannesburg.

In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on charges that he committed the war crime of forcible deportation of Ukrainian children. However, the Kremlin maintains that the warrant for Putin is “void”.

Despite the fact that Brazil is a signatory to the ICC, Lula stated on Saturday that Putin will be invited to the conference in Rio de Janeiro the following year.

“We value tranquility and good human relations. Therefore, I think Putin can travel to Brazil with ease,” he remarked.

“There is no way that he will be arrested if I am the president of Brazil and he comes to Brazil.”

Additionally, Lula declared that he would go to a BRICS summit in Russia the following year.

The G20 meeting is taking place in India amid tense relations between Moscow and the West over the situation in Ukraine, which led to significant tensions at the conference in Bali the year before.

The West backed down in order to obtain agreement on the Delhi Declaration while pushing for a stronger denunciation of the war in Ukraine in the G20 communique. The G20 nations approved a statement that avoided criticizing Moscow for its involvement in the conflict in Ukraine while urging other states to abstain from using force to seize territory.