Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be arrested if he attends the G20 summit in Rio de Janerio next year, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said. 

The statement comes after Putin skipped the G20 sunmmit in New Delhi, India, this weekend, possibly to avoid the risk of criminal detention. Instead, he was represented by his Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), in March 2023, issued an arrest warrant against Putin for his role in war crimes against Ukraine. While India is not a member of the ICC and has not officially condemned Russia over the invasion, the risk remained.

Brazil, on the other hand, is an ICC member.

"We enjoy peace and we like to treat people well. So I believe Putin can go easily to Brazil," Lula said in an interview to Indian news network Firstpost. 

"If I'm the president of Brazil and if he comes to Brazil, there's no way that he will be arrested." 

On Sunday, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi passed the ceremonial gavel to Lula, closing the 2023 G20 summit. 

"I want to congratulate Brazil's president and my friend Lula da Silva, and hand over the presidency's gavel to him," Modi said.

Assuming the bloc's presidency, Lula said "geopolitical issues" should not derail discussions, without outright mentioning the diplomatic tussle over the war in Ukraine.  "We have no interest in a divided G20. We need peace and cooperation instead of conflict," he said.