ICC Orders the Arrest of President Putin, This is Russia’s Strong Reaction

March 17, 2023 haayh 9 Views 0 Comments Arrest, icc, orders, President, Putin, Reaction, Russia, Russia Ukraine, russia ukraine war, Russias, strong, Vladimir Putin

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Russia has reacted strongly to the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes in Ukraine. Photo/REUTERS

MOSCOW – The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine. Moscow reacted strongly to the decision.

As well as addressing Putin, the arrest warrant from the ICC was also issued for the Commissioner for Children’s Rights of the Russian President’s Office Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova on charges of the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the arrest warrant issued by the ICC in The Hague on Friday was null and void and had no legal weight.

“The decision of the International Criminal Court has no significance for our country, including from a legal point of view,” Zakharova wrote in a Telegram post on Friday evening, as quoted by Sputnik, Saturday (18/3/2023).

“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC and bears no obligations under it. Russia is not involved in any cooperation with this body, and any possible ‘recipe’ for arrest coming from the courts would be legally null and void for us,” Zakharova added.

Senator Andrei Klishas, chairman of the Russian Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State-building, echoed Zakharova’s sentiments, saying the ICC warrant has no legal basis or effect in Russia.

“Urges Russia to immediately issue arrest warrants against all ICC judges,” he said.

“Today the jurisdiction of the ICC is recognized not only by Russia, but also by a number of members of the UN Security Council. After making an unreasonable decision, the ICC has embarked on a path of self-destruction,” Klishas said.

Previously, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of their responsibility in relation to war crimes in the form of the illegal transfer of children from occupied territories in Ukraine to the Russian Federation from February 2022 onwards.

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