Poland warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday not to fly through its airspace for an upcoming summit with U.S. President Donald Trump in Hungary, saying Warsaw could be legally obligated to act on an international arrest warrant against the Russian leader if he did.
Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski said Poland, as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC), could not guarantee that its judiciary would ignore the warrant if Putin’s plane entered Polish airspace en route to Budapest. “I cannot guarantee that an independent Polish court won’t order the government to escort such an aircraft down to hand the suspect to the court in The Hague,” Sikorski told Radio Rodzina.
The warning came after Trump announced plans last week to meet Putin in Budapest in a renewed diplomatic effort to broker an end to Russia’s war in Ukraine. The proposed summit has drawn global attention, given Putin’s standing arrest warrant from the ICC over alleged war crimes involving the illegal deportation of hundreds of Ukrainian children to Russia — accusations the Kremlin denies.
The ICC warrant requires all member states, including Poland, to arrest Putin if he enters their territory or airspace. “If this summit is to take place, hopefully with the participation of the victim of the aggression, the aircraft will use a different route,” Sikorski said, referring to Ukraine’s involvement in potential peace talks.
Hungary, which has maintained notably warmer relations with Moscow than most European Union states, has said it will ensure Putin can safely attend the summit and return home. Budapest has also been moving to withdraw from the ICC, potentially shielding Putin from arrest while on Hungarian soil.
To reach Hungary without crossing Ukrainian territory, Russia’s delegation would have to travel through at least one EU country’s airspace. All EU members, including Poland and Bulgaria, are ICC signatories.
In contrast to Warsaw’s firm stance, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev indicated his country would be open to granting airspace access to Putin if it would advance peace efforts in Ukraine. “If the condition for this is to have a meeting, it is most logical for such a meeting to be mediated in every possible way,” Georgiev said, according to the Bulgarian News Agency BTA. Bulgaria’s foreign ministry said it had not yet received any formal flight request from Moscow.
The Trump-Putin summit, which would mark one of the most significant diplomatic meetings since the invasion of Ukraine began, remains under scrutiny amid questions about the logistics — and legality — of the Russian leader’s travel through European airspace.
Reuters
