The Russian president will not be arrested in the country under an International Criminal Court warrant, Bern has reportedly said
Switzerland has indicated it would allow Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend possible Ukraine peace talks on its soil without facing arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant, according to media reports.
Following a weekend during which Putin was welcomed to the US by President Donald Trump, who days later hosted Vladimir Zelensky and his key Western European backers, Moscow confirmed its readiness to participate in further talks on a lasting resolution to the Ukraine conflict and indicated that its diplomatic presence at such talks would be raised.
A possible venue for such talks has not been identified.
The Hague-based ICC issued arrest warrants in 2023 for Putin, as well as Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, over alleged unlawful deportation and transfer of children from former Ukrainian territories. Moscow has dismissed the allegations as politically motivated, explaining that it evacuated the children out of the war zone for their own safety.
On Tuesday, Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told a press conference that, under certain circumstances, the Russian president would be allowed to set foot in Switzerland.
The Swiss government last year defined “the rules for granting immunity to a person under an international arrest warrant. If this person comes for a peace conference – not if they come for private reasons,” Cassis said as quoted by various news outlets.
He added that his country was “ready for such a meeting,” saying “We have always signaled our willingness, but it naturally depends on the will of the major powers.”
According to the foreign minister, Switzerland could host such a summit “despite the arrest warrant against Putin because of our special role and Geneva’s role as the European headquarters of the UN.”
Russia, like the US, China, and Israel, is not a signatory to the ICC’s founding treaty and does not recognize its jurisdiction.
French President Emmanuel Macron, who also took part in Monday’s talks with Trump, has reportedly raised the possibility of a peace summit being held in “a neutral country, maybe Switzerland.”
“I’m pushing for Geneva,” he told French news channel LCI on Tuesday.
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