New York museum asks Bondi to arrest Putin during Alaska visit
A New York museum has requested U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin upon his arrival in Alaska on Aug. 15 in a letter shared with the Kyiv Independent.
Beka Museum at the Rockefeller Center said it had also sent the letter, dated Aug. 14, to the White House, the Alaska attorney general, and the military base hosting the talks.
The request comes ahead of a high-stakes summit in Alaska between Putin and U.S. President Donald Trump, part of Washington's push to negotiate an end to Russia's all-out invasion of Ukraine.
"A nation's culture is its soul made visible. In Ukraine, that soul is under siege — especially in Russian-occupied territories — its monuments shattered, its children stolen, its songs silenced," Shota Bagaturia, director of Beka Museum, told the Kyiv Independent.
"To protect Ukrainian heritage is to stand guard over the memory and dignity of an entire people. If we fail to defend it, we do not just lose artifacts and buildings — we lose a living voice in the chorus of humanity," Bagaturia said.
In the letter, the museum urged immediate action, highlighting Putin's role in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children and other atrocities committed under his rule, as well as an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant issued against him.
The ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova over their role in the deportation of Ukrainian children in March 2023.
While the U.S. is not a member of the ICC, the museum noted that such actions could be prosecuted under U.S. federal law, including the War Crimes statute and the 1954 Hague Convention protecting cultural property in armed conflict.
The Trump-Putin summit, set to begin at the U.S. military Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage at 11 a.m. local time, marks the first face-to-face talks between the two leaders in six years and Putin's first visit to U.S. soil in a decade.
President Volodymyr Zelensky has not been invited to the meeting, prompting concerns in Kyiv and Europe that a deal could be struck without Ukraine's direct input.
Trump has described the meeting as a "feel-out" session and suggested a subsequent trilateral meeting with Zelensky may follow, depending on outcomes.
The summit represents a break from the diplomatic isolation imposed on Moscow's leader by former U.S. President Joe Biden after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian analysts and opposition figures have criticized the move, noting that it elevates Putin as a negotiator rather than treating him solely as the aggressor.
