Vladimir Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan on Thursday to meet with several of his allies. This is his first trip abroad after he became the subject of an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the “deportation” of Ukrainian children, writes AFP.

The Russian president, who has pulled out of several international summits because of an arrest warrant, is unlikely to be arrested on the trip because the Central Asian country, close to Moscow, has not ratified the Rome Statute, the court’s founding treaty.

Putin arrived in Kyrgyzstan, Russian and Kyrgyz press agencies reported on Thursday morning.

He will hold talks with his Azerbaijani counterpart Ilham Aliyev on Thursday, their first talks since Baku’s victory in Nagorno-Karabash, while Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pachinyan, whose relations with Moscow have been strained, will be absent.

During this visit, which coincides with the 20th anniversary of the opening of the Russian military base in Kant, Kyrgyzstan, Vladimir Putin will also hold talks with Kyrgyz President Sadyr Japarov.

Then, on Friday, the Russian president will take part in a summit of the countries of the former USSR in the presence of his main ally, Alexander Lukashenko of Belarus, as well as some leaders who are more skeptical of the invasion of Ukraine, such as the Kazakh Kasym-Zhomart Tokayev and the Uzbek Chavkat Mirziodev

Vladimir Putin, who launched Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022, is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant issued in March, which Moscow says is “invalid”.

He has avoided major international gatherings in recent months, appearing at the BRICS summit in South Africa in August and then the G20 summit in India in September.

In early October, the Russian president explained that he avoids international summits in order to “not create problems” for the organizers. “If they come, there will be political shows, political attacks,” he excused himself, saying that he had “things to do at home.”

Vladimir Putin, whom the West is trying to make a pariah, is also expected in China in October at the invitation of his ally Xi Jinping to attend an international economic forum.

This will be his first trip to China, a close partner, since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine.

Its head of diplomacy, Serhii Lavrov, will visit this country on October 16-18.