Budapest has blocked the statement of EU countries about the arrest of Putin - Bloomberg

According to sources, 26 EU Justice Ministers have published their own statement in support of the ISS decision to issue an international warrant for arrest of Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Hungary refused to sign the application. Budapest's veto means that the Chief Diplomat of the EU Josep Borrel, instead, published a statement on his behalf, where he "took into account" the decision of the International Criminal Court.

"The EU considers the ISS decision as the beginning of the process of bringing to justice and bringing Russian leaders to justice for the crimes and atrocities they order, allow or commit in Ukraine," Borrell said. Hungary's position is known to be most likely to be made at the EU leaders meeting at a summit in Brussels during the week before March 26.

The project of a joint statement of the EU Council states that the Council of Leaders "takes into account the recent orders of the President of Russia and his commissioner for the military crime on the illegal deportation and movement of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the International Criminal Court. It is similar to the wording used by Borrel.

According to acquaintances with the situation of the interlocutors of the publication, some leaders will probably demand more stringent formulations, since a number of of them have already welcomed the ISS decision individually when it was published last week.

We will remind, on March 17, the International Criminal Court in the Hague issued warrants for the arrest of Putin and his commissioner for the rights of the child Maria Lviv-Belova for probable war crimes related to the abduction of children from Ukraine. Officials in Kiev are investigating more than 16,000 possible cases of compulsory deportation of minors. This was stated last week by President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.