The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday over allegations of war crimes. The move makes it obligatory for the 123 member states to arrest and transfer Putin to The Hague for trial if he sets foot in their territory. Largely a symbolic gesture, it was immediately dismissed by Moscow — and welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough.
Warrants have been issued for the arrest of Putin as well as his presidential commissioner for children’s rights - Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova - for the role they played in the alleged forceful deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children.
“Vladimir Putin is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes.." the ICC statement explained.
According to the court, the crimes were “allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022".
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In the past year as the war raged, Russians had been suspected of seizing orphan children and sending them to their country. Reports quoting local authorities, for example, suggested that at least least 1,000 children were seized from schools and orphanages in the Kherson region during Russia’s eight-month occupation of the area.
Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during the invasion.
"We consider the very posing of the question outrageous and unacceptable. Russia, like a number of states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and, accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the Russian Federation from the point of view of the law," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tweeted on Friday.
(With inputs from agencies)
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