Poland warns it could seize Putin's plane under international law

Poland has issued a stark warning that it could seize an aircraft carrying Russian President Vladimir Putin under international law if it attempts to traverse Polish airspace. The statement from Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorski raises the diplomatic stakes surrounding a potential summit between Putin and US President Donald Trump in Budapest, a meeting already complicated by an EU-wide no-fly zone for Russian aircraft.

A Legal Justification for Detention

Sikorski clarified that the threat is grounded in a standing arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC). "We are unable to guarantee that an independent court will not order the government to detain such a plane in order to bring the suspect to the tribunal in The Hague," he stated in a radio interview. The ICC issued a warrant for Putin in March 2023, accusing him of the war crime of unlawfully deporting Ukrainian children. All states party to the ICC, including Poland, are obligated to arrest him if he is on their territory.

Navigating a Diplomatic and Airspace Maze

The warning comes as the Kremlin seeks viable flight paths to Hungary, an EU member state. With a ban on Russian flights over the EU, potential corridors involve the airspace of non-EU nations. Sikorski specifically mentioned that a route from Russia to Hungary could pass through Türkiye, Montenegro, and Serbia, bypassing Poland and other EU states. This underscores the complex logistics of organizing such a high-level meeting under current sanctions. Hungary, despite announcing its intent to withdraw from the ICC, remains bound by its obligations until mid-2026.

Precedent and Broader Implications

This is not the first time the ICC warrant has impacted Putin's travel. In 2023, he avoided a BRICS summit in South Africa, an ICC member state that would have been compelled to arrest him. The Polish warning sets a clear precedent and aligns with a pattern where the Russian leader's movements are restricted by international law, a situation also faced by Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu following ICC warrants issued against him in 2024.