JOHANNESBURG, June 27 Reuters The South African rand strengthened on Tuesday as analysts speculated the weekend39;s aborted mutiny in Russia may mean President Vladimir Putin could skip BRICS summit where South Africa would in theory be obliged to arrest him.

The BRICS group of emerging economies, comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, is due to hold a summit in Johannesburg in August.

At 1521 GMT, the rand traded at 18.4900 against the dollar , about 0.94 stronger than its previous close.

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

South Africa, as an ICC member, would theoretically be required to arrest Putin if he attends the summit, and a failure to do so could fuel tensions with the West.

South Africabased financial experts on Tuesday questioned whether Putin would now want to attend the Johannesburg summit after the aborted mutiny by Russian mercenary chief Yevgeny Prigozhin on Saturday that appeared to reveal cracks in the chief39;s grip on power.

This coup attempt may have happened at the perfect time for SA to defuse the situation in that it may well encourage Russian President Putin to stay at home and render any debates around whether SA would arrest him, should he arrive, null and void, ETM Analytics said in a research note.

Also supporting the rand was a softer dollar on global markets and lessintense power…