Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has assured that Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not face arrest in Brazil if he comes to the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro next year.

Lula, who was interviewed by the Firstpost news show on the sidelines of the G20 meeting in Delhi on Saturday, said Putin would be welcome to join next year’s event.

He also said that he intended to go to a BRICS bloc of emerging nations meeting that will take place in Russia before the Rio meeting.

“I think that Putin can travel to Brazil without any problem,” Lula said. “What I can tell you is that if I’m president of Brazil, and he comes to Brazil, there’s no chance he will be arrested.”

The remark comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March, accusing him of the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine.

Russia has rejected its forces have committed war crimes or forcibly removed Ukrainian children.

Putin has often missed international gatherings and did not attend the G20 meeting in Delhi, sending Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Brazil is a party to the Rome Statute which established the ICC.

Lula’s office did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

On Saturday, the G20 nations adopted a consensus declaration that did not condemn Russia for the war in Ukraine but urged all states not to use force to seize territory.