Switzerland offers Putin ‘immunity’ for Ukraine peace summit

Switzerland would grant Russian President Vladimir Putin immunity if he came to the country for talks on peace in Ukraine, despite the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant, it said on Tuesday.

Swiss Foreign Minister Ignazio Cassis told a press conference that, under certain circumstances, he would be allowed to set foot in Switzerland.

Last year, the Swiss government defined “the rules for granting immunity to a person under an international arrest warrant. If this person comes for a peace conference – not if they come for private reasons”, Cassis said.

As a member of the International Criminal Court, Switzerland would be legally obliged to arrest Putin.

French President Emmanuel Macron raised the possibility of a peace summit between Putin and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelensky being held in Europe, in “a neutral country, maybe Switzerland”.

“I’m pushing for Geneva,” he said in an interview aired earlier on Tuesday on French television.