Donald Trump y Vladimir Putin They agreed this Thursday during a “very productive” telephone conversation that lasted just over two hours to organize a summit in Budapest in the next two weeks to seek a negotiated solution to the war in Ukraine.
The Secretary of State, Marco Rubioand the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrovthey have not yet set a specific date to hold the meeting. But the big unknown at this time is knowing how Putin will land in the capital of Hungary.
Wanted by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine, the Russian president risks arrest if he crosses or flies over any country that is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which recognizes the jurisdiction of the Hague Court.
Hungary is, without going any further, one of the 125 signatory states of the agreement. It is true that the Government of Viktor Orbán announced last April that he was withdrawing his country from the ICC. But the departure does not take effect until after a year. On paper, the Hungarian prime minister is obliged to carry out the orders of the court in The Hague.
It doesn’t seem like the work to do it. And it wouldn’t be the first time he’s breached it either. In April, the Hungarian Prime Minister received with honors in Budapest his counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, another international leader wanted by The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
“Budapest is, in essence, the only place in Europe where a meeting of this type could be held today, mainly because Hungary is almost the only country favorable to peace,” Orbán declared this Friday on Hungarian public radio.
His Foreign Minister, Péter Szijjártóconfirmed that preparations to organize the summit have already begun. This is the same Szijjártó who landed in Moscow last Wednesday to attend a conference on energy, challenging the common position of the European Union.
Orbán had a telephone conversation with Putin on Friday morning to let him know that he will do everything he can to ensure that the meeting not only takes place, but also produces results. “Preparations are advancing at full speed,” the ultraconservative leader wrote on Facebook.
The spokesperson for the European Commission, Anitta Hipperclarified this Friday that both Putin and Lavrov are subject to asset freezing sanctions, but not to travel bans to EU member countries. “The meeting is not confirmed and we will not comment on hypotheses, but there are no travel bans as such.”
It would also not be the first time that Putin evades the arrest warrant of the Hague Court. In September last year, authorities in Mongolia, another signatory to the Rome Statute, avoided arresting him during a two-day official visit. What’s more, the Mongolian president Ukhnaagiin Khurelsukh He received him with honors in Ulaanbaatar.
It was the Trump Administration that proposed Budapest as the venue for the summit, and Putin “immediately supported it,” according to the version of Yuri Ushakovone of your trusted advisors.
It was the first contact between both leaders since August 18. Three days had passed since the summit in Alaska. A meeting from which Trump did not come away too satisfied because, among other issues, Putin had agreed to meet with Zelensky. An unfulfilled promise.
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