Moscow, Europe Brief News – The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being involved in war crimes.
The court’s pre-trial judges assessed there were “reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children”.
The judges considered issuing secret warrants but decided that making them public could “contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes”.
Moscow has said it does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC.
The ICC has charged Mr Putin with being involved in the deportation of children, and says it has reasonable grounds to believe he committed the acts directly, as well as working with others.
The court also said the Russian leader failed to exercise his rights to stop others who deported children.
Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC.
A Russian foreign ministry spokesperson said the arrest warrants are meaningless.
“The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,” Maria Zakharova wrote on Telegram.
That is because despite the warrants, the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within countries who are signed up to the agreement that set up the court.
Russia is not a signatory to that agreement – so it is unlikely either will be extradited.
