Rada Defense Committee member says Putin can’t be arrested while abroad

“Unfortunately, it’s now impossible to say that the existing mechanisms will allow Putin to be arrested when he is abroad,” the official said.

Read also: Lavrov snubbed at G20 FM meeting

“Despite the fact that almost everyone recognizes him as a war criminal, he enjoys immunity as a head of state. According to the (Vienna) Convention on Diplomatic Relations, he cannot be arrested.”

At the same time, Venislavskyi added one of the tasks of the Special International Tribunal, which should be established in the near future, would include the prosecution of Russia’s top leadership for crimes committed in Ukraine.

Putin is expected to travel abroad in November. Indonesian President Joko Widodo said on Aug. 18 that he expects Putin to attend the G20 summit, which is to be held in Bali this November.

Widodo invited Putin to attend the G20 summit despite the objections of some Western countries, including the United States, following Russia’s unprovoked attack and full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: Putin may opt out of G20 summit over security concerns

According to the Bloomberg news agency, some G20 members, including U.S. President Joe Biden, say they will refuse to sit at the same table with Putin.

After Jakarta refused to withdraw the invitation for Putin, there were calls by Ukraine’s allies to invite Ukrainian representatives to the G20 summit.

In a phone call on April 27, Widodo invited Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to participate in the G20 summit.

At the same time, Widodo had a phone talk with Putin on April 29, during which the Russian dictator confirmed that he had accepted the invitation to the summit. Indonesia’s president says the hosting country “wants to unite the G20” and “prevent division.”

A month later, on May 27, Zelenskyy also accepted an invitation to the G20 summit and expressed hope that “only friends of Ukraine” would attend it.

Read also: Lithuanian defense minister calls for immediate negotiations on Ukraine’s admission to NATO

Zelenskyy said that the G20 should give a clear assessment of Russia’s aggressive policy, which unleashed the full-scale war in Ukraine.

Ukraine has not yet decided on the format of Zelenskyy’s participation in the summit. He might join it remotely, as Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba did during the G20 foreign minister summit in July.

Zelenskyy stressed that his participation in the summit would depend on the situation at the front and who the attendees were.

However, Mykhailo Podolyak, an adviser to the head of the President’s Office, said Zelenskyy could personally attend the G20 summit even if Putin was also there.

The White House also believes that Zelenskyy should take part in the G20 summit even if Putin also attends.

Read also: Amid Ukraine’s effective counter-offensive, Russia’s FM Lavrov proposes negotiations with Kyiv

A G20 foreign ministers’ summit was held in July, at which participants boycotted meetings with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

Read the original article on The New Voice of Ukraine