Switzerland may organize a meeting between the US President-elect Donald Trump and Putin, despite an arrest warrant for the latter from the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This was stated by the spokesman for the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs Nicolas Bidault, quoted by Le Temps and Tages Anzeiger.
According to him, Switzerland will not initiate the meeting, but is ready to hold it if both sides want it.
An arrest warrant for Putin from ICC will not prevent him from coming to Switzerland — the countryʼs government allegedly has the right to make an exception if it is necessary for peace negotiations.
Nicolas Bidault also emphasized that after the first Peace Summit, which was held in his country, Switzerland regularly told both Russia and the United States that it was ready to "support any diplomatic efforts to establish peace".
ICC arrest warrant for Putin
The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin on March 17, 2023. The court stated that he is likely responsible for the war crime of the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine. Under the terms of the warrant, signatory countries to the Rome Statute, including Switzerland, must arrest Putin if he appears on their territory. During Putinʼs visit to Mongolia on September 2–3 (his first visit to an ICC member state after the issuance of the arrest warrant), he was not arrested. As Mongolia later explained, it was allegedly due to the countryʼs dependence on Russian energy products.
- On January 10, newly elected US President Donald Trump informed that his meeting with Putin was already being prepared.
- Two days earlier, Trump had stressed that he would not say when exactly they would meet, but that he knew Putin definitely wanted to meet. But Trump believes it would be inappropriate to meet before the inauguration, which will take place on January 20.
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