Budapest as an "island of peace": Hungary is ready to meet Putin, despite the arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Peter Sijarto, announced this in a conversation with journalists and noted that the country's government has already started preparations for the summit with the participation of the two presidents. The diplomat said that late in the evening he had telephone conversations with US Deputy Secretary of State Christopher Landau and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, during which organizational details of the meeting were discussed.
In his Facebook post, Szijjártó said that Hungary "has been consistently advocating peace since the beginning of the war in Ukraine" and believes that the conflict cannot be resolved by military means. According to him, "peace can be achieved only through negotiations", and the constant contact between Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin is, in his opinion, a step towards stabilizing the situation.
"Hungary, as an island of peace, is ready to host the summit and provide the presidents with all the conditions for successful negotiations so that peace returns to Europe," the minister emphasized. At the same time, Budapest's position raises questions about the fulfillment of international legal obligations. We will remind that Hungary has ratified the Rome Statute and, accordingly, is obliged to implement the decision of the International Criminal Court.
In March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for the arrest of the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, on suspicion of war crimes — the illegal deportation and transfer of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. According to the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court, the crimes allegedly took place at least since February 24, 2022.
The court believes that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for these actions — as a person who directly participated in the crimes, as well as as a manager who did not ensure proper control over subordinates. Along with it, a warrant was also issued for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children's rights in the administration of the President of the Russian Federation, who is also suspected of being involved in the forced removal of Ukrainian children.