International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Putin For War Crimes

The International Criminal Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant in the name of Vladimir Putin, whom he accuses of committing war crimes in Ukraine.

The Hague-based court said in a statement on Friday that Putin had committed “the war crime of illegal deportation of the population (children) and the war crime of illegal movement of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. are held responsible,” he said.

“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,” the court added.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alexeievna Lvova-Belova, a child rights commissioner at the Russian President’s Office, on similar charges.

Russia countered by saying it did not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and would not extradite its citizens.

“The decision of the International Criminal Court means nothing to our country, including from a legal point of view.” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel after the ICC announcement:

However, some experts say a trial remains unlikely given that the ICC is unable to make a judgment in its absence and Russia is unlikely to extradite officials. .