A foreign country’s arrest of Vladimir Putin under the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrant last week would amount to a “declaration of war” on Moscow, a senior Russian official has warned.
“Let’s imagine the matter (…) For example, the head of state of a nuclear power goes to Germany and is arrested. What is that ? A declaration of war on Russia,” said ex-President Dmitry Medvedev, currently No. 2 of the Russian Security Council, on Wednesday evening.
If that happens, then “all our capabilities, missiles and others fall on the Bundestag, the Chancellery and so on,” added Medvedev, who is used to harrowing statements.
The stark warning comes after the Hague-based International Criminal Court last week issued an arrest warrant for Mr Putin for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children as part of Moscow’s offensive against Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the ICC denounced Moscow’s “threats” against him after the Russian judiciary announced criminal investigations against several of its judges and his prosecutor Karim Khan.
Earlier this week, Mr Medvedev had already threatened the ICC with a missile attack and urged its judges to “watch the skies carefully”.
Russia, which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, called the arrest warrant for Mr Putin “null and void”.