Vladimir Putin is expected to visit Hungary soon for talks on ending the war in Ukraine with US President Donald Trump, despite an arrest warrant issued against the Russian leader by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The warrant was issued in March 2023, when Putin is accused of involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the conflict triggered by the Russian army's invasion of the neighboring country.
The court, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, relies on countries to arrest suspects.
Hungary seems unlikely to cooperate with Putin's detention, as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is also wanted on charges of crimes against humanity in the Gaza conflict, visited the country earlier this year. Netanyahu vehemently denies the charges.
After hosting Netanyahu, Hungary's nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in April that his country would begin proceedings to withdraw from the International Court of Justice.
The ICC was established in 2002 to hold leaders and senior officials accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It has 125 member states, but three of the world's major powers - the United States, Russia and China - are not members. are not among them.
In January this year, Ukraine became part of the court.
The ICC has more than 900 employees, and its budget this year is just over 195 million euros.
The institution has issued arrest warrants for more than 61 people, but 30 of them remain at large.
The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning it deals with cases only when countries' legal systems are unable or have failed to try suspects.
The Trump administration has imposed sanctions on the court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, two of his deputies, and several judges. Trump accused the court of "illegal and unjustified actions" that targeted the United States and Israel.
During his first term in the White House, Trump imposed sanctions on Khan's predecessor, Fatou Bensouda. The Biden administration subsequently lifted the sanctions against her.
Russia also does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and has issued an arrest warrant for Khan and the judge who ordered Putin's detention.
Since the arrest warrant for the Russian president was issued two years ago, he has traveled abroad.
The Russian leader has visited Mongolia, for example, which is a member of the ICC. He has also been to China and North Korea, which are not members of the court.
The only countries to have left the ICC are Burundi and the Philippines.
Rodrigo Duterte, president of the Philippines from 2016 to 2022, is being held in custody at the court in The Hague after being arrested on charges of crimes against humanity linked to his deadly "war on drugs."
Last month, the ruling military juntas in Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger said they were leaving the ICC, accusing the court of injustice. The three countries are united in a confederation called the Alliance of Sahel States.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Khan, has resigned pending the results of an investigation into sexual assault.
He has categorically denied the accusations made against him more than a year ago.
No date has been set for the investigation to be concluded.
Translated from English by Elena Indjeva, BTA