Russian President Accused Of Illegal Deportation Of Children From Occupied Areas Of Ukraine To Russia; Kremlin says it does not recognize the ICC and claims its decisions are void
O International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague issued this Friday, 17, an arrest warrant for the president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, for war crimes in Ukrainian territories. In addition, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s Commissioner for the Rights of the Child, Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova. She is accused of the same crime. According to the agency’s statement, both are accused of illegally deporting children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia. “Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born October 7, 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of deportation and illegal transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the ICC said. Also according to the court, “there are reasonable grounds to believe that Lvova-Belova bears individual responsibility for the crimes referred to, whether because she committed the acts directly, jointly with third parties or through others”.
The spokeswoman for Russian diplomacy, Maria Zakharova, declared that the decision does not make sense for the country, “including from a legal point of view”. Russian Security Adviser Dmitry Medvedev mocked the ICC’s decision. “The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin. No need to explain where this paper will be used,” he wrote on Twitter. Next to the phrase, Medvedev placed an emoji of a toilet paper roll. The publication was replicated by the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Before the arrest warrants became public, the Kremlin said it does not recognize the ICC in The Hague. “Russia, like many states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and therefore, from the point of view of law, the decisions of this court are null and void,” said Russian President’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, who fired. “Over the years, neither international judicial institutions, even those we do not recognize, nor other members of the international community have bothered to pay attention to the destruction of civilian infrastructure and killings of civilians committed by Ukrainian nationalists in Donbass,” he concluded.
On the other hand, Kiev celebrated the decision. Presidential chief of staff Andrii Yermak said the arrest warrants against the Russian president “is just the beginning”. Also celebrating was Ukraine’s Attorney General Andriy Kostin. “The decision is historic for Ukraine and the entire system of international law.”