International Criminal Court issues arrest order against Putin

Updated at 15pm

It also issued an arrest warrant for the same reason, considered a war crime, against the Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child in Russia, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Hague court said in a statement.

Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the [child] population and the illegal transfer of the [child] population from the occupied zones of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”, declared the court.

“The crimes would have been committed in Ukrainian territory occupied at least since February 24, 2022,” the court continued.

There are “reasonable grounds to believe that Putin is personally responsible for the aforementioned crimes,” he added.

Russia denounced the ICC decision as “senseless”.

“The decisions of the International Criminal Court are meaningless for our country, including from a legal point of view,” Russian diplomacy spokeswoman Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram, without clearly mentioning Putin in her message.

The Ukrainian Presidency reacted, celebrating the decision.

“It’s just the beginning”, celebrated the President’s chief of staff, Andrii Yermak, on Telegram, while the Ukrainian Public Prosecutor’s Office praised a “historic decision”.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said this month after a visit to Ukraine that alleged child abductions were the subject of a “priority investigation.”

Created in 2002 to judge the worst crimes committed in the world, the court has been investigating for more than a year possible war crimes, or crimes against humanity, committed in Ukraine during the Russian offensive.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but Kiev has accepted the court's jurisdiction over its territory and works with the prosecutor.

Experts admitted that Moscow is unlikely to hand over the suspects to court. Russia rejects accusations of war crimes.

Kremlin denies legal validity of arrest order 

The Kremlin denied this Friday (17) any legal validity to the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, claiming that Russia does not recognize this court.

“Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and therefore, from the point of view of law, the decisions of this court are void,” said the Russian president's spokesman Dmitri Peskov.

Former Russian President Dmitri Medvedev compared the arrest warrant to toilet paper.

“No need to explain where this paper should be used,” he wrote on Twitter in English, along with a toilet paper emoji.

The Hague court issued arrest warrants for Putin and Russia's Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.

Both are accused of alleged involvement in the deportation of children in areas of Ukraine occupied by Moscow, following the invasion of the country in February 2022.

“It's good that the international community appreciated the work to help the children of our country,” said Commissioner Lvova-Belova, ironically, quoted by the state news agency RIA Novosti.

“I received sanctions from all countries, including Japan, and now an arrest warrant (…), but we will continue working,” he added.

The European Union's head of diplomacy, Josep Borrell, considered that the ICC's “important decision” marks “the beginning of the process (…) for Russia and its leader to be held accountable for the crimes and atrocities they are committing in Ukraine”.

(To AFP)

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