ICC: Tajikistan broke war crimes treaty by not arresting Putin

(CN) — The International Criminal Court ruled Thursday that Tajikistan violated the Rome Statute by not arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin last October when he visited the Central Asian country.

Since March 2023, the Hague-based court has sought Putin’s arrest on accusations he oversaw the abduction of Ukrainian children during the war in Ukraine. The Rome Statute is the treaty underpinning the ICC, the world’s only permanent court pursuing war crimes and genocide.

In recent years, the ICC has suffered serious blows to its reputation with Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who is also wanted for war crimes — making foreign trips without consequences, including to the United States.

The U.S. is among several major countries that do not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction. China, Russia, India, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Iran are other nations that reject the ICC’s powers.

In April 2025, Netanyahu visited Hungary in defiance of the court’s authority. During the Israeli leader’s visit to Budapest, far-right Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán announced Hungary’s withdrawal from the ICC, becoming the first European Union member to leave the court.

Thursday’s ruling does not carry with it any penalty against Tajikistan.

Tajikistan faces at most censure from other parties to the treaty when they meet as an assembly. The ICC does not have the power to sanction countries found violating their duties.

Last October, Putin attended a meeting in Dushanbe, the Tajik capital, of the Commonwealth of Independent States, an economic, political and military bloc made up of former Soviet republics.

Putin’s visit to Tajikistan came a year after he was welcomed in September 2024 by Mongolia, another party to the ICC, without fear of arrest. Previously, the ICC found both Mongolia and Hungary violated the Rome Statute for not arresting Putin and Netanyahu, respectively.

Mongolia and Tajikistan rely heavily on trade and good relations with Russia, and the chance they’d arrest Putin was nearly zero.

In their defense to the ICC, Tajikistan and Mongolia argued they could not arrest Putin because Russia does not recognize the ICC and the Kremlin leader was shielded by immunity enjoyed by heads of state.

The ICC’s judges rejected those arguments.

“Tajikistan failed to fulfill its international obligation towards the court and towards the international community as a whole to cooperate in the arrest and surrender of Mr. Putin,” the judges wrote.

Tajikistan’s foreign ministry did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The ICC referred questions from Courthouse News to the Assembly of States Parties, a body made up of countries that recognize the court. That chamber did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment.

Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.

Follow @cainburdeau