RMF24: Poland doubts Putin will want to fly to Budapest through their territory
Airplane with the Russian dictator (Photo: Konstantin Zavrajin/EPA)

Poland considers it unlikely that Russian dictator Vladimir Putin will decide to fly to a meeting with US President Donald Trump in Budapest over their territory. This was reported by the media RMF24 with reference to an unnamed European diplomatic source.

Warsaw and other European capitals are already considering their response to Moscow's request to allow Putin to fly to Budapest for peace talks.

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Russian aircraft are banned from entering European Union airspace, and the Russian dictator has an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. Therefore, if Putin wants to travel to Budapest, he will need permission to fly over the territory of an EU member state. Poland may face a difficult dilemma over the possible overflight of the Russian dictator.

"If we refuse, we will anger Trump, who will apply pressure by claiming that Putin is going to peace talks. If we agree, there will be accusations that we are appeasing a war criminal," the diplomat said, concluding that "either option will be wrong.".

Asked about the dilemma for Warsaw if it had to let Putin's plane through, the diplomat called for "not calling the wolf out of the woods" and said that such a route for the dictator's trip seems unlikely.

"I think he doesn't need to fly over Poland – he can fly in through Serbia," the diplomat said. He added that he "doubts that Putin would want to fly through Poland".

The decision for Warsaw could have been simplified by a unanimous opinion of the European Union, but, as the media journalist learned, "it is not at all a fact that there would be unity of the EU countries in this case.".

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