Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that President Vladimir Putin will meet his South African counterpart, Cyril Ramaphosa, on the sidelines of the Russia-Africa Summit in St. Petersburg, Russia, according to the Russian news agency RIA Novosti.
The office of President Ramaphosa had announced, yesterday, that the Russian president will not attend the “BRICS” summit in South Africa, provided that Russia will be represented at the summit by Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
The Kremlin: Putin’s virtual participation in the upcoming BRICS summit
On Wednesday, the Kremlin said that Russian President Vladimir Putin will participate in the BRICS summit, which will be held in South Africa in August, via video link, according to .
South Africa reported earlier that Putin had agreed not to attend in person based on an agreement between the two parties, and South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the next BRICS summit would not be virtual.
“The BRICS summit, which will be held next August in Johannesburg, will be face-to-face and will not be virtual,” the Russia Today news channel quoted a video of Ramaphosa as saying, noting that the organization has not held face-to-face summit meetings for nearly three years.
