The place might it happen? : NPR

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

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

In 2023, the ICC within the Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin on battle crime prices. 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.

A common view of the outside of the Worldwide Legal Court docket in The Hague, Netherlands, March 12, 2025.

Omar Havana/AP/AP

disguise caption

toggle caption

Omar Havana/AP/AP

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

In response to the necessity for a everlasting worldwide courtroom addressing crimes dedicated throughout battle, the Worldwide Legal Court docket (ICC), which is predicated in The Hague, Netherlands, formally started working in July 2002.

Since 1999, 125 nations have signed onto the Rome Statute, establishing the worldwide courtroom. Neither the U.S. or Russia are member states. Ukraine turned a member in 2024.

The ICC has authority to pursue felony prices, however solely on probably the most severe crimes: genocide, crimes towards humanity, battle crimes and the crime of aggression.

The courtroom would not have its personal police power or enforcement physique, so it depends on nations’ cooperation to make arrests, switch arrested folks 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 battle crimes tied to allegations Russia has forcibly kidnapped Ukrainian kids to Russia. The ICC additionally issued a warrant on the time for Putin’s commissioner for youngsters’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

Russian officers have not denied the arrival of Ukrainian kids 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 severe prices from the ICC. Final November, the worldwide courtroom issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged battle crimes and crimes towards humanity within the Gaza Strip. The courtroom additionally issued warrants for Yoav Gallant, Israel’s former protection minister, Muhammad Deif, Hamas’ navy 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 ability and authority of the ICC.

“Russians do not care concerning the ICC,” stated Nina Khrushcheva, a world affairs professor for The New College in New York, particularly due to the notion that the U.S. has been hypocritical with regards to the courtroom.

When the ICC filed arrest warrants towards Netanyahu, then-President Joe Biden launched a press release that stated, “The ICC issuance of arrest warrants towards Israeli leaders is outrageous. Let me be clear as soon as once more: regardless of the ICC may indicate, there isn’t any equivalence — none — between Israel and Hamas. We are going to at all times 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 any doubt that Russia is committing battle crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and we’ve been clear that these accountable should be held accountable. The ICC prosecutor is an unbiased actor and makes his personal prosecutorial choices primarily based on the proof earlier than him. We assist accountability for perpetrators of battle crimes.”

Khrushcheva stated, “So for Putin, it is yet one more affirmation for him that the West is pretty hypocritical, and so he would 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 courtroom is that, as a member state, Mongolia had an obligation to honor the ICC’s arrest warrant, in accordance with David Bosco, professor at Indiana College, who spoke to NPR’s All Issues Thought of final 12 months.

However, Bosco stated, “Mongolia can also be located proper between Russia and China — two nations that it has huge 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 courtroom member.”

Russian President Vladimir Putin, left, and U.S. President Donald Trump’s particular envoy Steve Witkoff, proper, shake fingers throughout their assembly on the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia, Wednesday, Aug. 6, 2025.

Gavriil Grigorov/AP/Pool Sputnik Kremlin

disguise caption

toggle caption

Gavriil Grigorov/AP/Pool Sputnik Kremlin

What are the leaders’ choices?

Whereas consultants and analysts have lengthy stated 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 big assembly on unfriendly floor, Khrushcheva stated.

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

Khrushcheva says the Center East seems to be probably the most promising for either 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 stated.

That is made much more probably because of the 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 stated.

And the Center East has performed an more and more large function 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 battle in Gaza started in October 2023. Egypt additionally performed a vital function in mediating that battle.