State Department spokesman Matthew Miller rushed to the defense as Associated Press diplomatic writer Matt Lee pressed him on arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin if he set foot on U.S. soil.
Lee confronted the spokesman on what Miller described as the “unlikely hypothetical” scenario of arresting Putin if he were to be in San Francisco in November where President Joe Biden is scheduled to host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit. The summit is an annual gathering of 21 member economies in the Indo-Pacific region to promote free trade.
“Now if you’re saying that all of a sudden the United States is prepared to act on an ICC warrant or arrest notice,” Lee said.
“No — that is not at all what I said,” Miller said. “We have wanted to hold — hold on, let me just finish–”
“It’s the implication of what you said,” Lee said.
Miller said the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the sole way for Putin to be arrested, but there are a range of ways to hold him accountable. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin’s arrest in March for the alleged illegal trafficking of children from occupied parts of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. (RELATED: ‘Disingenuous To The Extreme’: Reporter Leaves Biden Spox Stammering To Explain Iran Money Transfer)
“Yeah but that’s the only indictment—” Lee said in response.
“Correct. We have said that there are other accountability mechanisms that we are pursuing, the ICC is just one of those,” Miller said. “We are deep into the hypotheticals. He is not going to be in San Francisco in November, I think we can all be pretty clear about that.”
Russian Ambassador Marat Berdyyev has pleaded with the Biden administration to send Putin an invite to the APEC summit, saying he has repeatedly sent requests to the Biden administration in the hopes they will extend an invite to the Russian president, according to the Washington Examiner. However, the Biden administration is poised to exclude any nation the U.S. has sanctioned.