ICC woes may get spotlight if Putin meets Trump abroad
THE HAGUE—Vladimir Putin may be traveling abroad next week—for potentially pivotal talks with US President Donald Trump—despite the Russian leader facing an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant.
Putin is wanted by the court for alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the conflict triggered by Moscow’s invasion of its neighbor.
The court, headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, relies on other countries to arrest suspects and has a spotty history of cooperation.
Putin knows that and has traveled overseas since the warrant was issued, including to ICC member state Mongolia. He’s also traveled to China and North Korea.
Choosing the United Arab Emirates as a venue would mean Putin visiting another country that is not a member of the global court.
The court was set up in 2002 and aims to hold leaders and senior officials accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. It has 125 member states, but three major global powers—the United States, Russia and China—are not members. Ukraine officially joined the court in January.
At large
More than 900 staff work for the court that has a budget this year of just over 195 million euros ($228 million).
In an indication of the problems it has getting suspects arrested, judges have issued warrants for 61 people and 30 remain at large.
The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning it only takes on cases when other countries’ legal systems are unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects.
Trump’s administration has slapped sanctions on the court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, after Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC. He accuses the court of “illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting America and Israel.
The court has issued an arrest warrant for two top Israeli officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes in Gaza. They deny the accusations, and Netanyahu has called the warrant “absurd.”
Sanctioned
Trump previously sanctioned Khan’s predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, in his first term in the White House and the Biden administration subsequently lifted those sanctions.
Russia also rejects the court’s authority and has issued a warrant for Khan and the ICC judge who signed Putin’s warrant.
It is not just Mongolia that has failed to arrest a suspect wanted by the court.
In April, Netanyahu visited Hungary, an ICC member state, and was not arrested. Instead, the Israeli leader received a red-carpet welcome from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who later said his country does not arrest its visiting friends. Hungary is now in the process of leaving the court.
The only other countries to have left the ICC are Burundi and the Philippines, whose former president, Rodrigo Duterte, is in custody at The Hague.
