Poland warned Russian President Vladimir Putin that he would be forced to land and be arrested if he flew through Polish airspace while en route to Budapest to meet with U.S. President Donald Trump.
If Putin makes the gamble, Polish authorities will turn him over to the International Criminal Court over alleged war crimes, according to Radosław Sikorski, Poland’s Minister of Foreign Affairs. Last week, President Trump announced a summit in Budapest with Putin “within two weeks or so” after speaking on the phone ahead of Trump’s meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to discuss a potential arms exchange involving the sale of U.S. Tomahawk long-range missiles.
Zelensky left Washington after a long meeting with Trump officials on Friday without the missiles, which could have been a game-changer amid Kyiv’s attrition offensive. The Ukrainian leader believes Putin is “afraid” of Kyiv obtaining the weapons, and Trump suggested Putin begged him not to strike a deal after hinting at the possibility of a weapons exchange.
White House sources told CNN that after a meeting on Monday between U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov that the summit will be “put on hold for the time being” upon concluding the two nations have “divergent expectations” about ending the war in Ukraine. The White House sources said Rubio is skeptical that a meeting between Trump and Putin would be productive, given Russia‘s unwillingness to compromise on its demands.
Russian officials have rejected the narrative that “the meeting was delayed” because the meeting was never set in stone and have expressed hope for future discussion. The Russian Foreign Ministry described the initial phone call in which the two discussed a potential meeting as “constructive,” said that the pair made “concrete steps” to bring their agreement to fruition.
Trump and Putin last met for a summit in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15. The Russian leader received a red-carpet welcome after arriving on his modified Ilyushin Il-96 airliner. Russian planes are currently banned from U.S. and European Union airspace. However, Trump made an exception in August.
Putin’s trip to Hungary, a landlocked country in Central Europe in the E.U. and NATO, could be a tricky travel destination for the Russian leader. The E.U. froze Putin and Lavrov’s assets after Russia‘s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
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Hungary is currently trying to remove itself from the ICC, and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, Putin’s closest E.U. ally, has guaranteed Putin’s safety. Putin may have to request permission to evade the E.U.’s airspace ban to fly directly to Budapest on his defense-boasting Ilyushin Il-96 aircraft.
Given Putin’s rocky relations with Ukraine and Poland, he will likely have to take a longer route south through Turkey and southeastern Europe. Potential challenges could arise if E.U. nations such as Bulgaria and Romania, both of which boast NATO bases, block Putin’s travel.
Romania confirmed it “has not received a request for overflight from the Russian Federation to date.” However, Bulgaria has not commented on the situation at press time.
What is Putin’s ‘Flying Kremlin’ aircraft fleet?
Dubbed the “Flying Kremlin,” the Russian president and other government officials are entitled to a fleet of aircraft. The primary presidential plane is a modified Ilyushin Il-96, a wide-bodied, four-engined, long-range aircraft with defense systems.
It is understood that he also boasts a Tupolev Tu-154 and Sukhoi Superjet 100, among others.