IRIA News

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin who is allegedly responsible for the unlawful deportation and transfer of the population, including children, from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

The arrest warrants for the Russian president were issued by the ICC under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute. This is the first time that the ICC has issued an arrest warrant against a leader from one of the five United Nations Security Council members.

Another arrest warrant was released against a high-level Russian official, the country’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, under the same clause.

According to the ICC pre-Trial Chamber, Vladimir Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova were held responsible for jointly committing criminal acts and war crimes. ICC Prosecutor Karim A. A. Khan said in a statement, “My Office alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country. At the time of these deportations, the Ukrainian children were protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention”.

#ICC President Judge Piotr Hofmański on recent arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova in the context of the situation in #Ukraine
More info: https://t.co/5OMC7Xuuy5 pic.twitter.com/45bT4mHqIs

— Int’l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) March 17, 2023

After the warrants, the Russian president would now be arrested on arrival at any of the state parties to the Rome Statute. 123 countries are State Parties of the International Criminal Court, the list includes 18 countries from Eastern Europe and 25 countries from Western Europe and North America.

The ICC President Piotr Hofmanski said that “the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory of a state party or a state which has accepted its jurisdiction”.

World Reaction

In response to the arrest warrants against the Russian President, the Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said, “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view”. She added that “Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it”.

Kremlin’s Press Secretary Dmitry Peskov said that Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC “outrageous and unacceptable”, and that any decisions of the court were “null and void” concerning Russia.

Several European countries and Western leaders have hailed the ICC’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin. Following the decision, the French government released a statement saying that “no one should escape justice”.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz was among the first leaders to welcome ICC’s decision against the Russian president. Scholz stated that the release of these arrest warrants shows that nobody is above the law.

High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell said, “There can be no impunity for the crimes committed under Russian occupation. The International Criminal Court’s investigations are crucial to ensure accountability and justice for the heinous crimes committed in Ukraine.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy hailed the International Criminal Court’s decision against the Russian president and blamed Putin for the deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children. Ukraine’s Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin also hailed the ICC decision as “historic for Ukraine and the entire international law system”.

Although the United States does not recognize the court, U.S. President Joe Biden backed the decision saying it was “justified”. “He’s clearly committed war crimes,” Biden told reporters, referring to Putin. “Well, I think it’s justified,” Biden added. “But the question is, it’s not recognized internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point.”

The ICC decision came only days before Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow, which marked Xi’s first foreign trip since officially securing a third term as the president of China. According to the Chinese foreign ministry, President Xi Jinping would visit Moscow from March 20 to March 22 and his meeting with the Russian president would also focus on the Ukraine war. Foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said that “China’s proposition boils down to one sentence, which is to urge peace and promote talks”.