Lithuania rules out ICC withdrawal despite US pressure

Speaking to Lithuanian public broadcaster LRT, Nauseda said withdrawing from the ICC was not currently under discussion in Vilnius. "No one is raising the question in the first place," he said, adding that such a move would be difficult to justify given Lithuania's previous support for the court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Consistency with EU stance

The Lithuanian leader argued that leaving the tribunal would contradict his country's earlier position on international justice. "For a country that applauded the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to withdraw from the ICC – I'm sorry, how would we explain that to our people?" he said, questioning the domestic political rationale for such a reversal.

He also noted that all 27 EU member states are parties to the ICC, making any withdrawal by Lithuania particularly anomalous. "Now to talk about withdrawing from the International Criminal Court, when 27 European Union member states are part of it, is an action that is completely difficult to comprehend," he added.

US opposition to The Hague

The remarks followed an LRT report that US officials had raised concerns with Lithuania over the court, particularly regarding countries hosting American forces, though sources said Washington had not explicitly linked continued ICC membership to the presence of American troops or threatened their withdrawal. Washington has intensified its opposition to the ICC over the court's actions concerning Israel and longstanding concerns that American military personnel serving overseas could fall under its jurisdiction.

The United States, which is not a party to the Rome Statute, has imposed sanctions on some ICC judges. Washington's relations with the tribunal have also been strained over investigations into allegations of torture and war crimes involving US troops and CIA personnel in Afghanistan and secret detention facilities in Europe.

ICC mandate and membership

The ICC was established under the Rome Statute to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and the crime of aggression when national judicial systems are unable or unwilling to pursue such cases. Lithuania has been a party to the Rome Statute since 2003, according to the broadcaster.