The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Friday it had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war crime of “illegal deportation” of Ukrainian children since the start of the Russian invasion.
The ICC, which sits in The Hague, has also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, on similar charges.
Russia is not a member of the ICC and experts say it is unlikely to hand over suspects. The court did not specify how it provided for the execution of the arrest warrants.
“Today, 17 March 2023, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two individuals in connection with the situation in Ukraine: Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Mr.me Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,” the ICC said in a statement.
Mr. Putin “is presumed responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the court added.
“The crimes were allegedly committed in occupied Ukrainian territory at least from February 24, 2022,” the ICC continued, adding that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin is personally responsible for the aforementioned crimes.”
Mr Putin is allegedly responsible both directly in committing the acts and for “the failure to exercise appropriate control over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or permitted them to be committed”, according to the statement. .
The Ukrainian presidency welcomed Friday the issuance of this arrest warrant against President Putin. “This is just the beginning,” Presidential Administration Chief Andriy Yermak said on Telegram. The Ukrainian prosecutor’s office hailed a “historic decision”.
For its part, Russian diplomacy denounced “meaningless” and “insignificant” decisions. “The decisions of the International Criminal Court are meaningless for our country, including from a legal point of view”, wrote on Telegram the spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy Maria Zakharova, without referring to Mr. Putin by name. in his message.
“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligation under it,” Mr.me Zakharova, adding that Moscow “is not cooperating” with the court. She warned that “the [mandats] from the International Criminal Court will be legally insignificant” for Russia.
” Spoils of war “
Monday, the New York Times reported that the ICC was preparing to prosecute Russians for the transfer of children to Russia and for deliberate strikes on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said earlier this month after a visit to Ukraine that the alleged child abductions were “under investigation with priority”.
“Children cannot be treated as spoils of war,” he said.
Mr Khan pointed out that he had visited a child care center in southern Ukraine which was “empty, following the alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation” or other occupied areas.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but kyiv has accepted the court’s jurisdiction over its territory and is working with the prosecutor.
The ICC, created in 2002 to judge the worst crimes committed in the world, has been investigating for more than a year into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity committed during the Russian offensive.