Russia
Trump 'Jokes' About Fleeing To Russia In Bizarre Rant On Georgia Case
Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump

Some Russian media pundits have commented that if former President Donald Trump ever decided to move to Russia, they would be glad to have him. And Trump joked about fleeing to Russia after agreeing to surrender in Fulton County, Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis' case against him.

TheDaily Beast reports that Trump announced he plans to surrender this Thursday, August 24. And the former president followed his announcement with a rant on his Truth Social platform.

Trump, who is facing four separate criminal indictments, wrote, "The failed District Attorney of Fulton County (Atlanta), Fani Willis, insisted on a $200,000 Bond from me. I assume, therefore, that she thought I was a 'flight’ risk – I'd fly far away, maybe to Russia, Russia, Russia, share a gold domed suite with Vladimir, never to be seen or heard from again."

The "Vladimir" Trump was referring to was obviously Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Trump also wrote, "Would I be able to take my very 'understated' airplane with the gold TRUMP affixed for all to see. Probably not, I'd be much better off flying commercial – I'm sure nobody would recognize me!"

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin

Russian President Vladimir Putin is skipping next month's BRICS summit in South Africa due to concerns that he could be arrested by the International Criminal Court for war crimes committed in Ukraine, The Guardian reported on Wednesday.

BRICS is the economic alliance between Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa that was established in 2009 to compete with the G7, to which Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States belong.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced after a "number of consultations" with Moscow that "Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war. It would be inconsistent with our constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia."

Ramaphosa's opposition followed the Democratic Alliance's demands that Putin be taken into custody. Instead, Putin will appear virtually, The Guardian noted.

According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, Kremlin Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov "denied Moscow had told South Africa that arresting its president would mean an act of war, but said it was 'clear to everyone what [that kind of] infringement against the head of the Russian state would mean."

The ICC accused Putin in March of orchestrating a pattern of atrocities throughout Ukraine, including conducting forced locations, the "unlawful deportation" of children to Russia, and executions of civilians.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.