The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of responsibility for war crimes committed in Ukraine.
“The International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “the 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.
The ICC issued the arrest warrant against Putin on suspicion of the illegal deportation of children and illegal transfer of persons from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
According to the charges, the ICC said:
“Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on 7 October 1952, President of the Russian Federation, 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 (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).”
“Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, born on 25 October 1984, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, 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 (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms Lvova-Belova bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute).”
“The abovementioned warrants of arrest were issued pursuant to the applications submitted by the Prosecution on 22 February 2023,” the court said.
Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations of atrocities committed during its neighbor’s years-long invasion. A spokeswoman for Russia’s Foreign Ministry said the arrest warrant for Putin was “of no importance”.
The International Criminal Court’s move came a day after a United Nations investigative body accused Russia of committing widespread war crimes in Ukraine, including premeditated killings and torture, in some cases forcing children to watch their deaths Relatives were raped and others were imprisoned corpses.
The news of the arrest warrant also came ahead of a planned state visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow next week, which is likely to cement much closer ties between Russia and China as relations between Moscow and the West hit new lows. Russia has faced unprecedented Western sanctions since it deployed tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
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