British lawyer and former ICC judge Howard Morrison has expressed concern about negotiations on Ukraine’s future, which may take place in Alaska with the participation of US President Donald Trump and Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin without full representation from Ukraine.
He said this in an exclusive comment to a Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.
“The most disturbing feature is that the future of Ukraine is being discussed without proper Ukrainian representation. That makes Ukraine very vulnerable to being further victimised if they do not agree to any obviously bad outcome of the talks. We wait to see,” Morrison said.
In his opinion, the decision to hold the meeting in Alaska may be related to a tactical calculation on Trump’s part.
“I suspect President Trump thought there might be a tactical advantage in having it on US soil, which Alaska of course is, in spite of the fact that the Russians now lay claim to it,” Morrison said.
He also criticized the tendency of some states to ignore international law when it comes to their own actions.
“I fear it is a sign of the growing policies of some states who think that international criminal and humanitarian, human rights law only applies to other states. The Realpolitik is that powerful states can act with impunity if they are careless of human suffering… and have done throughout recorded history,” he said.
It should be noted that the US is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The US signed the statute in 2000 but then withdrew its signature and did not ratify it. This effectively means that the US is not bound by the provisions of the statute.
As reported by Ukrinform, in March 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin on suspicion of deporting children and illegally transferring Ukrainians to Russia.
On September 2, Putin arrived in Mongolia on an official visit. It was his only visit to a country that ratified the Rome Statute and is required to arrest the Russian leader under the ICC warrant.
In response to the Mongolian authorities’ decision not to arrest Putin, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry said that Mongolia had thereby shared responsibility for his war crimes.
Donald Trump intends to meet with Vladimir Putin on August 15 in Alaska.
President Volodymyr Zelensky emphasized that Putin wants to exchange a pause in the war for the legalization of the occupation of part of Ukraine’s territory.
According to NBC News, the White House is considering inviting the President of Ukraine to Alaska next Friday, August 15.
Photo: ICC
Source: Former ICC judge: Negotiations in Alaska without Ukraine are alarming sign
