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Bulgarian President Dismisses Arrest Warrant for Putin as Insignificant

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BNN Correspondents
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President Rumen Radev of Bulgaria has brushed off the issue of whether his country would detain Russian President Vladimir Putin if he were to visit, stating that the matter is insignificant. This statement follows the International Court of Justice in The Hague issuing an arrest warrant for Putin and a Russian government official on allegations of illegally transferring Ukrainian children to Russia.

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The court order mandates the 123 countries, including Bulgaria, that are signatories to the order to apprehend Putin and extradite him for trial if he sets foot on their soil. However, Radev's comments suggest that Bulgaria may not comply with this obligation, despite being bound by the court's decision.

Responding to a journalist's question after the summit of European leaders in Brussels, Radev said, """"First of all, you know that the relations between the EU member states and Russia at the moment are not such as to suggest a visit by the president of the Russian Federation - so your question is meaningless at the moment.""""

He declined to comment on whether Bulgaria should participate in the initiative to search for illegally deported Ukrainian children.

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The leader of the Bulgarian Socialist Party (BSP), Kornelia Ninova, also expressed her opposition to arresting Putin. She claimed that it would be nonsensical and refused to call him an aggressor. She also dismissed as propaganda the reports of Ukrainian children being illegally deported to Russia, stating that they were most often given for adoption in Russia.

Hungary, another EU member, has also stated that it would not arrest Putin if he entered the country, despite the International Criminal Court (ICC) issuing an arrest warrant for him last week on similar allegations. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban's chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, has stated that arresting Putin would have no legal basis in Hungary, despite the country being a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that created the ICC, and ratifying it in 2001.

In conclusion, Bulgaria and Hungary have both dismissed the arrest warrant for Putin as insignificant, raising concerns about their commitment to upholding international law.

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