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   From: soetoro@excite.com   
      
   Putin hopes to travel overseas to meet Trump despite arrest warrant for   
   war crimes   
      
      
   By Mike Corder, The Associated Press   
      
   Posted Aug 7, 2025 11:24:48 AM.   
      
      
   THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP)  Vladimir Putin may be traveling abroad next   
   week  for potentially pivotal talks with U. S. President Donald Trump   
   despite the Russian leader facing an International Criminal Court arrest   
   warrant.   
      
   Putin is wanted by the court on a warrant dating back to March 2023 for   
   alleged involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine during the   
   conflict triggered by Moscows invasion of its neighbor.   
      
   The court, headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands, relies on other   
   countries to arrest suspects and has a spotty history of cooperation.   
      
   Putin knows that and has traveled overseas since the warrant was issued,   
   including to ICC member state Mongolia. Hes also traveled to China and   
   North Korea, which are not court members.   
      
   Choosing the United Arab Emirates as a venue would mean Putin visiting   
   another country that is not a member of the global court.   
      
   The International Criminal Court in a nutshell   
      
   The court was set up in 2002 and aims to hold leaders and senior   
   officials accountable for crimes against humanity, war crimes and   
   genocide. It has 125 member states, but three major global powers  the   
   United States, Russia and China  are not members. Ukraine officially   
   joined the court in January.   
      
   More than 900 staff work for the court that has a budget this year of   
   just over 195 million euros ($228 million).   
      
   In an indication of the problems it has getting suspects arrested,   
   judges have issued warrants for 61 people and 30 remain at large.   
      
   The ICC is a court of last resort, meaning it only takes on cases when   
   other countries legal systems are unable or unwilling to prosecute   
   suspects.   
      
   The United States and Russia both oppose the court   
      
   Trumps administration has slapped sanctions on the courts chief   
   prosecutor, Karim Khan, after Trump signed an executive order imposing   
   sanctions on the ICC. He accuses the court of illegitimate and baseless   
   actions targeting America and Israel. The court has issued an arrest   
   warrant for two top Israeli officials, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu   
   and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, over alleged war crimes in   
   Gaza. They deny the accusations, and Netanyahu has called the warrant   
   absurd.   
      
   Trump previously sanctioned Khans predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, in his   
   first term in the White House and the Biden administration subsequently   
   lifted those sanctions.   
      
   Russia also rejects the courts authority and has issued a warrant for   
   Khan and the ICC judge who signed Putins warrant.   
      
   Countries that have not arrested suspects and a notable one that has   
      
   It is not just Mongolia that has failed to arrest a suspect wanted by   
   the court. In April, Netanyahu visited Hungary, an ICC member state, and   
   was not arrested. Instead, the Israeli leader received a red-carpet   
   welcome from Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who later said his   
   country does not arrest its visiting friends. Hungary is now in the   
   process of leaving the court.   
      
   The only other countries to have left are Burundi and the Philippines,   
   whose former president, Rodrigo Duterte, is in custody at the courts   
   cell block in The Hague after he was arrested on charges of crimes   
   against humanity linked to his governments deadly crackdown on drugs.   
      
   Duterte was arrested in his home country in March by Philippine police   
   as he arrived on a flight from Hong Kong. President Ferdinand Marcos   
   said the arrest was proper and correct and not an act of political   
   persecution.   
      
   South Africa allowed Sudans then-leader Omar al-Bashir to visit in 2015   
   without arresting him. Al-Bashir is wanted on charges including genocide   
   for his role in the bloody conflict in Sudans western Darfur region in   
   the 2000s. He is in prison in his own country but still has not been   
   sent to The Hague, even after being ousted from office in 2019 in a   
   popular uprising.   
      
   ICC prosecutor is on leave amid ethics probe   
      
   Karim Khan, the ICCs chief prosecutor, has stepped down pending the   
   outcome of an investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct. He   
   has categorically denied accusations that he tried for more than a year   
   to coerce a female aide into a sexual relationship and groped her   
   against her will.   
      
   No date has been set for the investigation to be completed.   
      
   Mike Corder, The Associated Press   
      
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