Hungary: Putin will not be arrested

Hungarian State Minister Gergely Gulyash said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would not be arrested in his country.

The first statement came from Hungary after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is allegedly responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine. Hungarian State Minister Gergely Gulyash noted that, despite the signing of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be arrested if he comes to Hungary. Stating that the arrest was not based on legal grounds, Gulyash said: “Based on Hungarian laws, we cannot arrest the President of Russia.”

The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of involvement in war crimes committed in Ukraine. The ICC called for Putin to be arrested on suspicion of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine and illegal evacuation of Ukrainians from their territory to Russia. On the same charge, the court issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova, in a statement on her social media account after the decision, said: “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view. Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and, accordingly, this decision is not responsible.”