War Crimes in Ukraine: ICC issues arrest warrant against Putin

The International Criminal Court (ICC) yesterday announced it had issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine, including "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children.

The Hague-based ICC said it had also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, on similar charges.

Russia is not a member of the ICC. It was unclear how the ICC planned to enforce the warrant.

"Today, pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova," the ICC said in a statement.

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."

The ICC said the crimes dated from February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes," it said.

Putin was allegedly responsible both directly by committing the acts and for "failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission."

The arrest warrants are being kept secret to protect victims and witnesses, it said.

Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations of atrocities during its one-year-old invasion of its neighbour. 

"The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view," Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel. "Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it."

Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin hailed the decision, reports Reuters.

"The world received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and its leadership and henchmen will be held accountable," Kostin said in a statement on social media. "This is a historic decision for Ukraine and the entire system of international law."

The ICC is a court of last resort for crimes that countries cannot or will not prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan launched an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine just days after Russia's invasion, reports AFP.

Khan said earlier this month after a visit to Ukraine that the alleged abductions of children "are being investigated by my office as a priority".

"Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war," he said in a statement on March 7.

Posting a picture of himself alongside empty cots, Khan said he had visited a care home for children in southern Ukraine that was "empty, a result of alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation" or other occupied areas.

Khan also confirmed that the ICC was investigating attacks on "critical civilian infrastructure" in Ukraine and that he had visited the sites of several such strikes.

Along with Ukraine's prosecutor general "we underlined our collective commitment to ensure that such acts are fully investigated and those responsible for alleged international crimes held to account," he added.

RUSSIA SLAMS ICC'S WARRANT

Russia does not recognise the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and considers its decisions null and void, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters yesterday, reports Russian news agency Tass.

"We consider the very formulation of the issue outrageous and unacceptable. Russia, as well as several other states, do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and, accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for Russia in terms of law," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"That is, in fact, the only thing I would and could tell you about this decision," he added.

Peskov did not comment on a question about whether the court's decision would affect Putin's visits to countries that recognized the jurisdiction of the ICC: "I have nothing to add on this topic."