MOSCOW (dpa-AFX) – The Russian head of state Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump could meet again for a new summit in the next two weeks or a little later, according to information from Moscow. The meeting should not be postponed, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Interfax.
Trump and Putin had spoken on the phone the evening before about a new meeting. Budapest is being discussed as a location. The last time they met was in Alaska in August. The US President is seeking a peace solution to the Ukraine war, which began with the Russian invasion of the neighboring country a good three years ago.
Peskov also reported that Putin spoke on the phone with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. Hungary wants to take on the role of host and Putin agrees to that. Orban maintains good relations with both Putin and Trump and emphasized that Budapest was logical as a summit location.
Russia is likely to demand a security guarantee for Putin because there is an arrest warrant for the president from the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Kremlin chief recently visited Tajikistan and Mongolia without the states complying with requests for an arrest.
Hungary should actually arrest Putin
Hungary is the first European country to leave the World Criminal Court. Orban announced this in April; Parliament approved this in May.
However, a withdrawal from the court’s basic contract only comes into force one year after receipt of the written declaration of withdrawal. By leaving, Hungary originally wanted to free itself from the obligation to execute the arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But even after the legally binding withdrawal, the obligations that a contracting state assumed during its membership remain. Hungary must therefore continue to cooperate with the court in investigations that began before the withdrawal.
However, the court’s options for sanctions are limited. At the same time, ignoring his orders undermines the authority of the court./mau/DP/jha