ICC judges seek Putin’s arrest citing war crimes in Ukraine

Amsterdam — The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant on Friday against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of the war crime of illegal deportation of children from Ukraine, a move Moscow said was meaningless.

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during Russia's one-year-old invasion of its neighbour.

Putin is only the third serving president to have been issued an ICC arrest warrant, after Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi.

While it is unlikely that Putin will end up in court any time soon, the warrant means that he could be arrested and sent to The Hague if travelling to any ICC member states.

The ICC issued the warrant on suspicion of the unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. The court also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, on the same charges.

Russia has not concealed a programme under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.

In the first reaction to the news from Moscow, Russian foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel: “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view.”

“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it.”

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC “outrageous and unacceptable”, and that any decisions of the court were “null and void” with respect to Russia.

‘Only the beginning’

Senior Ukrainian officials applauded the ICC decision, with the country’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin hailing it as “historic for Ukraine and the entire international law system”.

Andriy Yermak, chief of the presidential staff, said that issuing the warrant was “only the beginning”.

Ukraine’s prosecutor general Andriy Kostin welcomed the move as “a historic decision for Ukraine and the entire international law system ... But it is only the beginning of the long road to restore justice.”

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago. He highlighted during four trips to Ukraine that he was looking at alleged crimes against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure.

The ICC move came a day after a UN-mandated investigative body accused Russia of committing wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine, including wilful killings and torture, in some cases making children watch loved ones being raped and detaining others alongside dead bodies.

The news also came ahead of a planned state visit to Moscow next week by Chinese President Xi Jinping which is likely to cement much closer ties between Russia and China just as relations between Moscow and the West hit new lows.

Russia has been placed under unprecedented Western sanctions since he sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24, 2022.

Beijing and Moscow struck a “no limits” partnership shortly before the invasion and US and European leaders have said they are concerned Beijing may send arms to Russia.

China has denied any such plan, criticising Western weapon supplies to Ukraine, which will soon extend to fighter jets after Poland and Slovakia this week approved deliveries. The Kremlin said the jets would simply be destroyed.

China is keen to deflect Western criticism over Ukraine, but its close ties to Russia and its refusal to label Moscow’s war as an invasion have fuelled scepticism about the prospect that Beijing might act as a mediator in the conflict.

White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the US had deep concerns that China might try to position itself as a peacemaker in the war by promoting a ceasefire.

But any ceasefire at this time would not lead to a just and lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia, Kirby told a news briefing.

Grain shipments 

An international agreement to allow the safe export of grain from several Ukrainian ports on the Black Sea expires on Saturday. Russia has agreed to extend the deal for 60 days while Ukraine, along with the UN and Turkey which brokered the original deal, have called for a 120-day rollover.

Russia has not specifically said why it is insisting on the shorter period, though it has complained that its own food and fertiliser exports are being hindered by Western sanctions.

The United Nations Office in Geneva said on Friday that discussions were continuing on the renewal of the deal, needed to prevent global food shortages because Ukraine is a big exporter. A shorter extension would further restrict exports from Ukraine, which remain well below pre-invasion levels.

Russia denies targeting civilians but says it has hit infrastructure to degrade Ukraine's military and remove what it says is a potential threat to its own security.

Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked war to grab territory from its pro-Western neighbour.

Reuters