Poland has warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against flying through its airspace to attend a planned peace summit in Hungary with US President Donald Trump, saying it could be compelled to enforce an international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Radio Rodzina on Tuesday that allowing Putin’s aircraft to transit Polish skies could put Warsaw in a legal bind under international law.
“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 said.
The ICC has accused Putin of overseeing the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia following Moscow’s 2022 invasion. The warrant obligates all member states of the court, including Poland, to arrest the Russian leader if he enters their territory. Moscow has dismissed the charges and does not recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction.
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Trump announced last week that he intended to meet Putin in Budapest, saying he hoped to “broker an end” to the ongoing war in Ukraine. The summit, which has not yet been formally confirmed by the White House or the Kremlin, would mark the first face-to-face meeting between the two leaders since the conflict began.
Sikorski said he hoped any arrangements for Putin’s attendance would avoid forcing Poland into a confrontation over the warrant. ”If this summit is to take place, hopefully with the participation of the victim of the aggression, the aircraft will use a different route,” he said.
Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orban, one of Europe’s most Russia-friendly leaders, has said his government would ensure Putin could enter and leave the country safely for the meeting. Orban has maintained closer relations with Moscow than most of his European Union counterparts and has resisted pressure to align fully with Western sanctions against Russia.
Because of airspace restrictions over Ukraine, any Russian delegation travelling to Hungary would need to cross at least one EU or NATO member state’s territory. All EU countries are ICC members, but Hungary is in the process of withdrawing from the court, which has raised questions over how it would handle the warrant.
Meanwhile, Bulgaria indicated on Tuesday that it would be open to allowing Putin’s aircraft to cross its skies if it could help secure peace.
“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,” Bulgarian Foreign Minister Georg Georgiev told the state-run news agency BTA.
Putin has rarely travelled to countries that recognise the ICC since the warrant was issued in March 2023, limiting his foreign visits mostly to states such as China, Iran, and Turkey, none of which are ICC members.
