Péter Szijjártó says Hungary will not arrest Vladimir Putin on ICC warrant

Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó has stated that the country will not arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin under the International Criminal Court (ICC) mandate if he visits Hungary, RIA Novosti reports.

"Regarding the ICC, President Putin was in the United States this summer and was not arrested. If he comes to Hungary, he will not be arrested either," Szijjártó said in an interview with CNN.

Earlier, the Hungarian parliament voted to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC). Orbán explained this by saying that the organization has transformed from an impartial organization to a political one in recent years.

In March 2023, the ICC's pre-trial chamber, whose jurisdiction Russia does not recognize, issued an "arrest" warrant for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Ombudsperson for Children's Rights. The ICC accuses Russia, among other things, of allegedly "deporting" children whom Russian authorities had rescued from Ukrainian shelling and transported from the war zone to safe areas.

As Peskov previously stated, raising the ICC's question of "arresting" the Russian president is unacceptable; Moscow does not recognize its jurisdiction, and any of its decisions are null and void.