 Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived on November 9 to Astana for a rare visit abroad. He was welcomed in the airport by the President of Kazakhstan Kassanjomar Tokayev.Thursday's visit is Putin's third known trip abroad since the Hague-based International Criminal Court, ICC, issued an arrest warrant in March for the Russian leader on war crime charges, something the Kremlin strongly rejects. Kazakhstan, like China and Kyrgyzstan, the two other countries Putin has visited recently, is not a signatory to the ICC, the ICC, which accused Putin of illegally deporting children from Ukraine, obliges the court's 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to the Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.Kazakhstan's Tokayev, a career diplomat, has carefully maintained neutrality in the Russia-West standoff and welcomed Putin just a week after hosting French President Emmanuel Macron. A United States delegation, led by a senior State Department official, visited Astana this week.