Putin-Selenskyj summit: Didn’t Putin be arrested?

The world is eagerly looking at a possible summit between the Ukrainian President Wolodymyr Selenskyj and the Russian warlord Vladimir Putin. It would be the first meeting since Russia attacked its neighboring country at the end of February 2022. So you might think that peace is more close than ever since the start of the war. Until then, a lot is still unclear. And there are many questions. We have summarized the most important:

No, not at all, there are even great doubts about it. But: After Donald Trump took on a broker role last week and then spoke to Putin and later with Selenskyj and several European heads of state and government, the prospects have become better. Both Ukraine and Russia have signaled willingness to a summit. In the night of Wednesday (MESZ) Trump said in an interview that both sides were in exchange to organize a meeting.

Trump’s spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said Putin agreed with a conference with Selenskyj. The Kreml So far, however, has been more cautious. In principle, one is open to every talks, Foreign Minister Sergei Lawrov said on state television. “But all contacts with the participation of the heads of state must be prepared extremely carefully.”

So far, this is not entirely clear. After the meeting with Selenskyj and the European head of state and government, Trump had declared that he had kept Putin up to date on the talks. A bilateral summit between Ukraine and Russia Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced “in the next two weeks” after the conference in the White House.

There are several options here. So far, it is only certain that the summit should take place in Europe, so that everyone involved agreed, according to several sources.

The AFP news agency relies on Russian advisory circles that Putin proposed in a phone call to have the meeting in Moscow. Apart from the capital of the aggressor, several countries are positioned for the orientation. The Switzerland And Austria have already explained their willingness. In a statement, the Austrian Chancellor Christian Stocker referred to the “long tradition” of the capital Vienna as “place of dialogue” and as a seat of international organizations.

France President Emmanuel Macron had previously had the Swiss city Geneva brought into play as a place for a possible meeting. From Macron’s point of view, a “neutral country” should align such a meeting.

On Wednesday, the magazine “Politico” reported that signs would be condensed that the conference could take place in the Hungarian capital Budapest. The Secret Service is already taking precautions for this. According to “Bloomberg”, the place was proposed by the Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.

In theory, this would be the case in most countries in the world. The International Criminal Court ((ICCHH) in March 2023 issued an arrest warrant against the Russian ruler, due to the suspicion of war crimes, including the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. This is exactly what makes the search for a suitable place difficult for the meeting. The ISTGH is currently supported by 125 nations. However, some countries do not follow the instance. These include the United States, Russia, China, some South American and African countries – and also Hungary. The parliament of the EU country only approved the exit from the ICC in May this year.

In addition, Austria and Switzerland have already announced that they want to make a big exception for Putin should the summit take place in the respective countries. According to his own statements, the Austrian Chancellor Stocker Putin enable to enter the country for such a conference despite the international arrest warrant.

The Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis was similar. His country wants Putin Granting “immunity” should he come to the country and take part in a “peace conference” to Ukraine. The Swiss Bundesrat passed the rules for such cases last year.

With material from the news agencies dpa, AFP