The judiciary accuses the Russian President of “illegally deporting” Ukrainian children.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) said on Friday (March 17) it had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for the war crime of “illegally deporting” Ukrainian children since the beginning of the Russian invasion. The ICC, based in The Hague, has also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, on similar charges.
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Russia is not a member of the International Criminal Court and experts say it is unlikely to extradite suspects. The court did not specify how the arrest warrants would be executed. “Today, March 17, 2023, the Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two people in connection with the situation in Ukraine: Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,” Presidential Commissioners for Children’s Rights in Russia, the ICC said in a statement.
Vladimir Putin “is presumed to be responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the court added. “The crimes were allegedly committed on occupied Ukrainian territory as of at least February 24, 2022,” the ICC continued, adding that there is “reasonable reason to believe that Vladimir Putin is personally responsible for the above crimes.”
For Moscow, this arrest warrant has no legal effect
Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev likened this arrest warrant to toilet paper, the first reaction from a senior politician in Russia. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. No need to explain where this paper is going to be used,” he wrote on Twitter in English, ending his message with a toilet paper emoticon. According to the Kremlin, this arrest warrant has no legal meaning. “Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court, therefore, from a legal point of view, the decisions of this court are null and void,” the bouncer told reporters -Word of the Russian President, Dmitry Peskov.
Kyiv, for its part, welcomed the issuance of the arrest warrants, which are “just the beginning”, according to the head of the presidential administration Andriï Yermak on Telegram. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed this as a “historic” decision by the ICC. Great Britain also welcomed this action against Vladimir Putin. “We welcome the move by the independent International Criminal Court to hold the leaders of the Russian regime, including Vladimir Putin, accountable,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Twitter.