A BBC reporter tried to press South Africas ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula by asking him if his government would arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes if he visited his country.
The BBC reporter appeared flabbergasted after Fikile told him he would welcome President Putin.
"If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here, even tomorrow, to come to our country," Mbalula said in the interview, excerpts of which were posted on the ANC's social media channels on Tuesday. “We will welcome him to come here as part and parcel of BRICS.”
This obviously was not the response expected by the reporter, who pressed the issue even harder to get the Secretary-General to change his stance.
However, Fikile not only pushed back against the BBC reporter, but he reminded him of the war crimes committed by the West. Namely, the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan under false pretenses, i.e., weapons of mass destruction
"How many crimes have everyone else who is so vocal today committed in Iraq and Afghanistan? Have you arrested them?"
WATCH THE INTERVIEW BELOW