Russia Kremlin speaks of Putin meeting with Trump soon
Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump could meet again for a new summit in the next two weeks or a little later, according to information from Moscow.
17.10.2025, 15:14
SDA
The meeting should not be put on the back burner, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told the Russian news agency Interfax. Trump and Putin had spoken on the phone the previous evening about a new meeting. Budapest is being discussed as the venue.
The two last met in Alaska in August. The US President is seeking a peaceful solution to the war in Ukraine, which began with the Russian invasion of the neighboring country just over three years ago.
Peskov also reported that Putin had spoken to Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban on the phone. Hungary wanted to take on the role of host, Putin agreed. Orban maintains good relations with both Putin and Trump and emphasized that Budapest was a logical choice as the summit venue.
Russia is likely to demand a security guarantee for Putin because the president is the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Kremlin leader recently visited Tajikistan and Mongolia, for example, without the states complying with requests for his arrest.
Hungary should actually arrest Putin
Hungary is the first European country to leave the world criminal court. Orban announced this in April; the parliament approved it in May.
However, a withdrawal from the court's basic treaty only comes into force one year after receipt of the written declaration of withdrawal. By withdrawing, Hungary originally wanted to free itself from the obligation to execute the arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
However, even after the legally binding withdrawal, the obligations that a contracting state had assumed during its membership remain in place. Accordingly, Hungary must also continue to cooperate with the court in investigations that began before the withdrawal.
However, the court's ability to impose sanctions is limited. At the same time, disregarding its orders undermines the court's authority.
