International Criminal Court issues arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday March 17 issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over his responsibility for war crimes committed in Ukraine. “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: Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms. Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,” Presidential Commissioner for Child Protection Rights in Russia said the ICC in a statement.
The head of state “is held 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 crimes were allegedly committed on occupied Ukrainian territory as of at least February 24, 2022,” it said, adding that “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin is personally responsible for the above crimes.”
The Federal Foreign Office called the decision “irrelevant” and “pointless”. “This is just the beginning,” Andriy Yermak, chief of staff of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, welcomed on Telegram. For its part, the Ukrainian prosecutor welcomed a “historic decision”.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that the International Criminal Court was preparing to indict people over the transfer of children to Russia and the premeditated bombing of civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan said recently after a visit to Ukraine that the alleged child abductions would be “investigated as a matter of priority”.
The ICC, established in 2002 to try the world’s worst crimes, has been investigating possible war crimes or crimes against humanity committed during the Russian offensive for more than a year. Neither Russia nor Ukraine is a member of the International Criminal Court, but Kiev has accepted the court’s jurisdiction over its territory and is cooperating with the prosecutor’s office. Russia denies war crimes allegations.