Putin visits Kyrgyzstan in 1st foreign trip since ICC warrant

Moscow, October 12

President Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday on a rare trip abroad for the Russian leader who was indicted earlier this year by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for war crimes in Ukraine.

Putin was to meet with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Zhaparov on Thursday. He will take part on Friday in the Commonwealth of Independent States summit, which Kyrgyzstan is hosting.

The leaders of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan will also attend the summit. Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan will skip it, as Yerevan’s relationship with Moscow has frayed amid mutual accusations.

It is the first time this year that the Russian President has travelled outside Russia and Russian-held territories of Ukraine. Earlier

this year, Putin visited the partially occupied Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk and Kherson, as well as the annexed Crimean Peninsula.

In March, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin over the deportation of children from Ukraine. — AP