Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at Russian President Vladimir Putin’s decision to skip the upcoming BRICS summit in South Africa, North Korean missile tests over international waters, and Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s speech to the U.S. Congress.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is once again the odd man out. By “mutual agreement” with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Putin announced that he would not attend this year’s annual BRICS summit in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Aug. 22-24. Instead, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov will take his place for in-person meetings, and Putin will make an appearance via video link. The leaders of Brazil, India, China, and South Africa are all expected to attend.

Controversy over whether Putin should travel to Johannesburg for the conference stemmed from South Africa’s obligations as a signatory of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In March, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin, charging him with war crimes for the forced abduction and transportation of Ukrainian children to Russian-controlled territory. As a member of the ICC, South Africa is required to uphold the body’s arrest warrants, which would mean arresting Putin if the Russian leader entered South African territory.

For months, Moscow has pushed Ramaphosa to allow Putin to attend the BRICS summit without fearing arrest. In a 32-page affidavit released Tuesday, Ramaphosa indicated that the Kremlin had said “arresting its sitting president would be a declaration of war.” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov denied such a threat was ever made; however, Moscow has issued similar warnings to other nations in the past. Let’s imagine “the leader of a nuclear power visits the territory of Germany and is arrested,” Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy chair of Russia’s Security Council, said in March. “In this case, our assets will fly to hit the Bundestag, the chancellor’s office, and so on.”

In Tuesday’s affidavit, Ramaphosa hinted that Pretoria had been in confidential talks with the ICC for months. Ramaphosa worried that arresting Putin would hinder South Africa’s ability to negotiate peace talks between Moscow and Kyiv. Just last month, Ramaphosa traveled to the region with officials from six other African nations to discuss first steps toward a truce.

Putin’s decision not to attend the summit in person takes the pressure off Ramaphosa, but it also highlights just how much the Russian leader’s global standing has changed thanks to his war on Ukraine. “Being branded a war criminal by the embodiment of global justice further isolates both Putin and Russia,” political scientist Mark Lawrence Schrad argued in Foreign Policy in March. “Gone are the days when Putin basked in the glow of high-level summits.”

• Stop Comparing Ukraine to World War I by Raphael S. Cohen and Gian Gentile
• Why Ukraine’s Counteroffensive Has Been Slower Than Expected by Ravi Agrawal
• Hydrogen Is the Future—or a Complete Mirage by Adam Tooze

Trouble in Pyongyang. On Wednesday, North Korea fired two short-range missiles about 341 miles into international waters—the same distance between North Korea’s capital and the South Korean port city of Busan, where a U.S. ballistic missile submarine arrived on Tuesday. It was the first time a U.S. nuclear-armed submarine had docked in South Korea since the 1980s. Seoul condemned Pyongyang’s test as a “major provocation” that threatens regional stability.

The missile tests came less than 24 hours after a U.S. soldier in South Korea, apparently in an attempt to flee imminent military disciplinary action back home, crossed the border into North Korea and was detained by North Korean authorities. U.S. Defense Department officials are still negotiating his release.

Israel’s democratic “imperfections.” Israeli President Isaac Herzog addressed the U.S. Congress on Wednesday amid unrest at home over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to pass controversial judicial reforms and rising tensions with Palestinians. In Herzog’s speech, ostensibly meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Israel’s founding, he emphasized Israel’s commitment to democratic values, including a “strong Supreme Court and independent judiciary.” He discussed the importance of the U.S.-Israel relationship and said he hopes to “one day make peace with our Palestinian neighbors.” Herzog, a former leader of the opposition Israeli Labor Party, was the ninth Israeli leader to address Congress; the last one to do so was Netanyahu in 2015, which was boycotted by more than 50 Democrats and not approved by then-U.S. President Barack Obama.

Wednesday’s speech was also boycotted by numerous Democrats, such as Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who last week called Israel a “racist state”—a comment she quickly walked back after being accused of antisemitism by Republicans. “I am well aware of the imperfections of Israeli democracy, and I am conscious of the questions posed by our greatest of friends,” Herzog said. “The momentous debate in Israel is painful and deeply unnerving because it highlights the cracks within the entire whole.”

Pita says goodbye. Thailand’s front-runner for prime minister conceded defeat on Wednesday after the military junta-appointed parliament blocked his nomination for a second time, officially ending his campaign for the top spot. Pita Limjaroenrat of the progressive Move Forward Party won the most parliamentary seats in May’s election but fell just short of a majority. He campaigned on upending the elite status quo by reforming the monarchy, something that garnered him vast support from Thailand’s youth.

Thailand’s upper house must now select a new prime minister from the remaining candidates, none of which held the popular support Pita had. In the meantime, Pita faces a potentially devastating vote from the country’s constitutional court, which will decide if he must be disqualified from parliament for owning shares in an inactive media company, something that is prohibited for parliamentarians by Thai law.

Forget palaces, diamonds, and private yachts. Britain’s royal family owns something much more regal: swans. In fact, all mute swans swimming in open waters in the United Kingdom that are not otherwise claimed by three specific companies are owned by the Crown. On Tuesday, King Charles III checked in on his winged friends by holding the country’s annual Swan Upping ceremony, a tradition that dates back to the 12th century and consists of the royal swan marker (yes, that’s a real job title) counting, weighing, and checking the health of all the swans on the River Thames.