Poland warned Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday not to travel through its airspace for a summit in Hungary with US President Donald Trump, saying it could be forced to execute an international arrest warrant if he did so, Reuters reported.
Trump said last week that he planned to meet with Putin in the Hungarian capital Budapest as part of his efforts to mediate an end to the war in Ukraine.
The International Criminal Court (ICC), based in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant for Putin in 2023, charging him with the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. Russia does not recognize the court's jurisdiction and denies the charges.
"I cannot guarantee that an independent Polish court will not order the government to land such a plane and hand over the suspect to the court in The Hague," Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski told Radio Rodzina.
The ICC order obliges the court's member states to arrest Putin if he enters their territory.
"I think the Russian side is aware of that. And therefore, if the summit takes place, I hope with the participation of the victim of aggression, the plane will use a different route," Sikorski added.
Hungary, whose Prime Minister Viktor Orban maintains warm relations with Russia, said it would ensure that Putin could enter the country for the summit and return home afterwards.
To avoid flying over Ukraine, however, the Russian delegation would have to pass through the airspace of at least one European Union (EU) country. All EU members are also members of the ICC, although Hungary is in the process of leaving the court.
Poland is a member of both the EU and NATO, and was one of Kiev's most determined allies after Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
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