The place might it happen? : NPR

President Trump mentioned his assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin to debate an finish to the conflict in Ukraine is about to occur “very shortly” at a date and placement that Trump mentioned he would announce “slightly bit later” on Friday.

When — and, most critically, the place — these talks might occur continues to be unclear. However discovering impartial territory for these negotiations could also be tough as Putin faces the specter of arrest from the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC).

In 2023, the ICC within the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin on conflict crime fees. This now limits the choices for the place Trump and Putin can meet because the Russian president faces attainable arrest in any of the greater than 120 ICC member nations.

What’s the ICC and why can it concern arrest warrants?

In response to the necessity for a everlasting worldwide court docket addressing crimes dedicated throughout conflict, the Worldwide Prison Court docket (ICC), which relies in The Hague, Netherlands, formally started working in July 2002.

Since 1999, 125 nations have signed onto the Rome Statute, establishing the worldwide court docket. Neither the U.S. or Russia are member states. Ukraine grew to become a member in 2024.

The ICC has authority to pursue legal fees, however solely on essentially the most critical crimes: genocide, crimes towards humanity, conflict crimes and the crime of aggression.

The court docket does not have its personal police pressure or enforcement physique, so it depends on nations’ cooperation to make arrests, switch arrested individuals to ICC detention in The Hague and to implement sentences.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin two years in the past over alleged conflict crimes tied to allegations Russia has forcibly kidnapped Ukrainian youngsters to Russia. The ICC additionally issued a warrant on the time for Putin’s commissioner for kids’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

Russian officers have not denied the arrival of Ukrainian youngsters within the nation, however have characterised their arrival as a part of a humanitarian program for deserted, war-traumatized orphans.

Putin is not the one sitting head of state to face such critical fees from the ICC. Final November, the worldwide court docket issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged conflict crimes and crimes towards humanity within the Gaza Strip. The court docket additionally issued warrants for Yoav Gallant, Israel’s former protection minister, Muhammad Deif, Hamas’ army chief whom Israel says it killed in August, in addition to different Hamas officers.

Israel contested the allegations towards Netanyahu and Gallant.

‘Russians do not care concerning the ICC’

Critics and authorities leaders have repeatedly questioned the facility and authority of the ICC.

“Russians do not care concerning the ICC,” mentioned Nina Khrushcheva, a global affairs professor for The New College in New York, particularly due to the notion that the U.S. has been hypocritical relating to the court docket.

When the ICC filed arrest warrants towards Netanyahu, then-President Joe Biden launched an announcement that mentioned, “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants towards Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear as soon as once more: regardless of the ICC would possibly indicate, there isn’t a equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We’ll all the time stand with Israel towards threats to its safety.”

However when the ICC issued a warrant towards Putin, the response from the U.S. was extra supportive of the worldwide physique. On the time, White Home Nationwide Safety Council spokesperson Adrienne Watson advised NPR, “There isn’t a doubt that Russia is committing conflict crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and we have now been clear that these accountable have to be held accountable. The ICC prosecutor is an impartial actor and makes his personal prosecutorial choices primarily based on the proof earlier than him. We help accountability for perpetrators of conflict crimes.”

Khrushcheva mentioned, “So for Putin, it is yet one more affirmation for him that the West is pretty hypocritical, and so he does not take note of it.”

Again in September, Putin traveled to Mongolia, an ICC member since 2002. The journey went easily, and Putin was by no means taken into custody.

The view of the court docket is that, as a member state, Mongolia had an obligation to honor the ICC’s arrest warrant, based on David Bosco, professor at Indiana College, who spoke to NPR’s All Issues Thought of final 12 months.

However, Bosco mentioned, “Mongolia can also be located proper between Russia and China — two nations that it has monumental financial linkages with. And neither of these nations is a member of the ICC. Neither of them are pleasant to the ICC. And Mongolia clearly determined that its financial and diplomatic pursuits outweighed its authorized obligations as a court docket member.”

What are the leaders’ choices?

Whereas specialists and analysts have lengthy mentioned the prospect of an arrest of Putin is extraordinarily slim, it is unlikely that the Russian chief would take the possibility and maintain such a major assembly on unfriendly floor, Khrushcheva mentioned.

So this nonetheless probably guidelines out most of the 125 nations listed as ICC members. This leaves technically about 70 nations nonetheless obtainable, however fewer nonetheless are pleasant to each Russia and the U.S.

Khrushcheva says the Center East appears to be essentially the most promising for each side to fulfill, given each Russia and the U.S. have good relations with a number of nations there.

“Both the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia … Turkey are all potential choices,” she mentioned.

That is made much more probably as a result of truth prior talks between Russia and Ukraine have been beforehand held in Saudi Arabia and Turkey.

Many countries within the Center East have “raised their standing fairly a bit,” as a result of they’ve held these impartial grounds for negotiation, Khrushcheva mentioned.

And the Center East has performed an more and more huge position in internet hosting high-stakes worldwide negotiations. The small, rich Arab Gulf nation of Qatar, additionally a U.S. ally, served as the house for delicate negotiations between Israel and Hamas, because the conflict in Gaza started in October 2023. Egypt additionally performed a vital position in mediating that battle.