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Putin to Travel to Kyrgyzstan in First Known Trip abroad since ICC Arrest Warrant

This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Russian President Vladimir Putin attending a meeting with Culture Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 9, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)
This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Russian President Vladimir Putin attending a meeting with Culture Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 9, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)
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Putin to Travel to Kyrgyzstan in First Known Trip abroad since ICC Arrest Warrant

This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Russian President Vladimir Putin attending a meeting with Culture Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 9, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)
This pool photograph distributed by Russian state owned agency Sputnik shows Russian President Vladimir Putin attending a meeting with Culture Minister at the Kremlin in Moscow on October 9, 2023. (Photo by Mikhail METZEL / POOL / AFP)

Vladimir Putin will visit Kyrgyzstan on Thursday, the presidential office of the Central Asian country said, in what would be the Russian leader's first known trip abroad since the International Criminal Court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Putin has rarely traveled abroad since the start of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in early 2022 and is not known to have left Russia since the ICC issued in March a warrant for him on suspicion of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The Kremlin denies those allegations, Reuters said.
"At the invitation of the President of the Kyrgyz Republic, Sadyr Japarov, on October 12 of this year, the President of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin, will make an official visit to the country," the Kyrgyz presidential administration said in a statement on its website.
Putin agreed in May during talks with Japarov to visit Kyrgyzstan, but there has been no official confirmation yet from the Kremlin that the Russian president will travel there on Thursday.
The Russian leader is also due to travel to China next week for the third Belt and Road Forum in Beijing. Neither Kyrgyzstan nor China are members of the ICC, which was established to prosecute war crimes.
Moscow denies the ICC allegations and the Kremlin said the warrant was evidence of the West's hostility to Russia, which opened a criminal case against the ICC prosecutor and the judges who issued the warrant.
CIS SUMMIT
In Kyrgyzstan, Putin is also to take part in ceremonies dedicated to the 20th anniversary of the opening of an air base in Kant, which is home to the Russian Aerospace Forces' 999th Air Base, the Kyrgyz presidential office said.
Separately, Kyrgyzstan's presidential office said on Tuesday that the Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan told Japarov that he will not be attending a Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) summit in Bishkek on Friday.
The office said that Pashinyan told Japarov in a phone call that he will not be able to attend due to "a number of circumstances."
The CIS was formed among a number of the post-Soviet republics after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 and includes Russia, Armenia, Azerbaijan and Kyrgyzstan, among others.
Japarov's office said Putin planned to attend the summit.
Russia-Armenia ties have been badly strained by Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Armenia moving to subject itself to the jurisdiction of the ICC.
Armenia has also accused Russia of inaction as Armenia's neighbor Azerbaijan recaptured last month Nagorno-Karabakh, a region controlled for three decades by ethnic Armenians, most of whom have now fled.
Last week, Azerbaijan's President Ilham Aliyev pulled out of an EU-brokered meeting with Pashinyan at which Brussels said it was standing by Armenia.
Pashinyan said on Tuesday that plans were proceeding for a meeting with the Azeri president to discuss a durable peace accord.

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Tens of Thousands Join Pro-Palestinian Rallies in Europe amid High Alert as Oct. 7 Anniversary Nears

Protesters attend a demonstration in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Strasbourg, eastern France, on October 5, 2024. (AFP)
Protesters attend a demonstration in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Strasbourg, eastern France, on October 5, 2024. (AFP)
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Tens of Thousands Join Pro-Palestinian Rallies in Europe amid High Alert as Oct. 7 Anniversary Nears

Protesters attend a demonstration in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Strasbourg, eastern France, on October 5, 2024. (AFP)
Protesters attend a demonstration in support of the Palestinian and Lebanese people in Strasbourg, eastern France, on October 5, 2024. (AFP)

Tens of thousands of pro-Palestinian demonstrators took to the streets in London, Paris, Rome and other major cities around the globe Saturday to call for a ceasefire as the first anniversary of the October 7 Hamas attacks on Israel approached.

Massive rallies were planned in several European cities, with the largest gatherings expected from Saturday to Monday. Events will peak on Monday, the date of the anniversary.

In London, thousands gathered in Russell Square amid a significant police presence. Some of the march’s organizers had said they planned to target companies and institutions they claimed were “complicit in Israel’s crimes,” including Barclays Bank and the British Museum.

The atmosphere was tense as pro-Palestine protesters and counter-demonstrators, some holding Israeli flags, passed each other. Scuffles broke out as police officers pushed back activists trying to get past a cordon. Fifteen people were arrested on suspicion of public order offenses and assault, London's Metropolitan Police said.

In Rome, several thousand demonstrators gathered in spite of a ban by local authorities who refused to authorize protests in the Italian capital, citing security concerns. Protesters chanted “Free Palestine, Free Lebanon,” waving Palestinian flags and holding banners calling for an immediate stop to the conflict.

People wave Palestinian and Lebanese flags as they demonstrate in solidarity with Palestinian and Lebanese people in central Sofia on October 5, 2024. (AFP)

In the northern German city of Hamburg, about 950 people staged a peaceful demonstration with many waving Palestinian and Lebanese flags or chanting “Stop the Genocide,” the dpa news agency reported, citing a count by police. Two smaller pro-Israeli counterdemonstrations took place without incident, it said.

Several thousand protesters gathered peacefully at Paris’ Republique Plaza in a show of solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese people. Many were waving Palestinian flags while holding posters reading ”stop the genocide,” “free Palestine,” and “hands off Lebanon.”

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators also planned to join rallies in Washington, New York’s Times Square and several other cities in the United States as well as in other parts of the world, including Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa and India. In the Philippines, dozens of left-wing activists protested near the US Embassy in Manila, where police prevented them from getting closer to the seaside compound.

Pro-Israeli demonstrations are expected to be held Sunday because Jews across the world are still observing Rosh Hashana, or the Jewish new year.

High security alerts

Security forces in several countries warned of heightened levels of alert in major cities, amid concerns that the escalating conflict in the Middle East could inspire new terror attacks in Europe or that the protests could turn violent.

Pro-Palestinian protests calling for an immediate ceasefire have repeatedly taken place across Europe and around the globe in the past year and have often turned violent, with confrontations between demonstrators and law enforcement officers.

A demonstrator holds a Lebanese flag in support of Lebanon amid the ongoing hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel, during a protest in support of Palestinians in Gaza, ahead of the anniversary of the October 7th attack, amid the Israel-Hamas conflict, in Rome, Italy, October 5, 2024. (Reuters)

Italian authorities believed that the timing of Saturday's rally in Rome risked the Oct. 7 attack being “glorified,” local media reported.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi also stressed that, ahead of the key anniversary, Europe is on high alert for potential terror attacks.

“This is not a normal situation. ... We are already in a condition of maximum prevention,” he said.

Ben Jamal, director of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in Britain, said he and others will keep organizing marches until action against Israel is taken.

“We need to be out on the streets in even bigger numbers to stop this carnage and stop Britain being drawn into it,” Jamal said.

In Berlin, a march is scheduled from the Brandenburg Gate to Bebelplatz on Sunday. Local media reported that security forces have warned of potential overload because of the scale of protests. German authorities pointed to increasing antisemitic and violent incidents in recent days.

Earlier this week in France, Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau warned the country’s regional prefects, expressing concern about possible tensions and saying that the terrorist threat was high.

A tense and bloody year On Oct. 7 last year, Hamas launched a surprise attack into Israel, killing 1,200 Israelis, taking 250 people hostage and setting off a war with Israel that has shattered much of the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip.

Elizabeth Tower, commonly known as Big Ben, is seen with pro-Palestinian demonstrators marching to Downing Street to mark one year of the Israeli operations in the Gaza Strip and to call for a permanent ceasefire as part of an event organized by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign in London, Britain, 05 October 2024. (EPA)

More than 41,000 Palestinians have been killed since then in Gaza, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.

Nearly 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza, with fewer than 70 believed to be alive. Israelis have experienced attacks — missiles from Iran and Hezbollah, explosive drones from Yemen, fatal shootings and stabbings — as the region braces for further escalation.

In late September, Israel shifted some of its focus to Hezbollah, which holds much of the power in parts of southern Lebanon.