Putin will fly to Tajikistan as state party to Rome Statute, humiliating international law - Portnikov

He said this on Espreso TV. 

“Putin can be arrested in any of the 123 countries that have signed the Rome Statute. There are few countries that Putin can visit, but he can go to countries that have not signed the Rome Statute, such as China or India. Of course, the most interesting thing is when a person who has received such a warrant goes to a country that has ratified the Rome Statute. There is an experiment here, because former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, having a warrant, traveled to such countries. There was his trip to the African Union summit, where he arrived and there was a scandal, but Bashir calmly went home. That is, they did not even try to pretend that he could really be extradited. He also went to the inauguration of the president of Uganda, where the Rome Statute was ratified, and again he calmly arrived and left,” the journalist said.

Vitaliy Portnikov noted that in this sense, we cannot say that we should necessarily expect Putin to go to a country that is a party to the Rome Statute and be detained there.

“Tajikistan has ratified the Rome Statute and now, if Putin flies to Dushanbe, some say he will be arrested there, while others believe that he will not fly to Dushanbe now. The trick is that he will fly to Dushanbe, and nothing will happen. Of course, everything possible and impossible will be done to make sure that Putin goes there. I promise he will definitely do so, because it is important for him to humiliate the international community and show the insignificance of international law. What does Tajik President Emomali Rahmon care about the International Criminal Court? But if he quarrels with Russia, he could get into serious trouble. Moreover, Rahmon and Putin are very close as people who share a common style of governance,” Portnikov said.

• On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin.