For the “unlawful deportation” of Ukrainian children, the International Criminal Court revealed on Friday that it had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Hague-based ICC claimed to have issued an arrest order for Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian president’s representative for children’s rights, on comparable grounds.
Russia is not a member of the ICC. It was unclear how the ICC planned to enforce the warrant.
“Today, pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal 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.
Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
The ICC said the crimes dated from February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,” it said.
Putin was allegedly responsible both directly by committing the acts and for “failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission.”
The arrest warrants are being kept secret to protect victims and witnesses, it said. The ICC is a court of last resort for crimes that countries cannot or will not prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan launched an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine just days after Russia’s invasion.
