ICC issues war crimes arrest warrant for Putin for alleged deportation of Ukrainian children

(CNN) The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova Belova on suspicion of plotting to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

The court ruled that Mr Putin “conspired directly with other criminals to commit the crime and that he failed to exercise proper control over the civilians and military personnel who committed the act.” “There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility.” “

The accusations related to alleged practices, which CNN and others have reported, are the first formally filed against Moscow officials since they launched the gratuitous attack on Ukraine last year.

The Kremlin called the ICC’s decision “outrageous and unacceptable”.

“We consider the very raising of this issue to be outrageous and unacceptable. Russia, like many states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court, and therefore decisions of this kind is invalid for the Russian Federation and invalid from the point of view of the law, ”Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov tweeted on Friday.

A trial in The Hague remains unlikely to proceed. Since Russia is not a member of her ICC and courts do not hold trials in absentia, indicted Russian officials must be extradited by Moscow or arrested outside Russia.

Earlier this month, CNN reported on 15-year-old Alina Yatzyk, one of 345 Ukrainian children missing since the Russian invasion in February 2022, according to official Ukrainian statistics. .

The Ukrainian government says many of the missing children were forcibly taken to Russia. The Russian government does not deny taking Ukrainian children and makes their adoption by Russian families a centerpiece of its propaganda.

A senior Ukrainian official told CNN on Monday that Kiev has been pressuring the ICC for some time to seek arrest warrants for Russians in connection with the war in Ukraine.

In April, the office of the Russian Commissioner for the Rights of Children Lvova-Belova said that about 600 children from Ukraine were sent to orphanages in Kursk and Nizhny Novgorod to live with families in the Moscow region. said.

According to the governor of the Moscow region, as of mid-October, 800 children from the Donbas region in eastern Ukraine lived in the Moscow region, many of them with their families.

Some of the children have ended up thousands of miles from Ukraine and several time zones away. According to Lvova-Belova’s office, Ukrainian children are sent to institutions and foster homes in 19 different regions of Russia, including Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen regions in Siberia and Murmansk in the Arctic Circle.

In response to the ICC arrest warrant for her, the Russian state news agency TASS said it was “great” that the international community appreciated her work for children.

“The international community appreciates our efforts to help our children, does not leave them in conflict zones, takes them out, creates a good environment for them and surrounds them with love. “It’s great that they’re recognizing ‘, caring people,'” she told reporters. We have an arrest warrant, I wonder what will happen next, and we will continue to work.”

Andriy Yermak, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said in Telegram on Friday that the arrest warrant issued for Putin was “just the beginning.”

“The world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and that its leaders and accomplices will be brought to justice,” Ukrainian Attorney General Andriy Kostin added in a Facebook post on Friday.

“This means that Putin must be arrested and tried outside Russia, and world leaders will have to face the situation before shaking his hand or sitting with him at the negotiating table.” I will think about it.”

Human Rights Watch called the ICC’s decision “a wake-up call to others who perpetrate or cover up abuse.”

“Today is a momentous day for the many victims of crimes committed by the Russian military in Ukraine since 2014. With these arrest warrants, the ICC has made Putin a wanted man, daring perpetrators in Russia’s war. We have taken the first step to end the impunity that has been engulfing Ukraine for far too long,” said Balkees Jarrah, the NGO’s deputy director of international justice, in a statement on Friday. .

“The warrant sends a clear message that issuing orders to commit or condone serious crimes against civilians can lead to solitary confinement in The Hague…comes regardless of rank or position,” Jarrah said. said.

“Last resort” court

Moscow denied the warrant on Friday.Russia’s Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the court “means nothing” for the country “including from a legal point of view.” withdrew from the ICC Treaty under

“Russia is not a member of, and does not have any obligations under, the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Russia does not cooperate with this body and may. [pretences] Because arrests from the International Court of Justice are legally void for us,” she said.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, wrote on Twitter: “The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. Where should this paper be used? No need to explain ’emoji with toilet paper.

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmitro Kuleba praised the ICC on Twitter, calling it “the wheels of justice.”

“We commend the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova Belova over the deportation of Ukrainian children. International criminals are responsible for child theft and other international crimes.” is asked.,” Kreba has been added.

Located in The Hague, Netherlands and created by a treaty called the Rome Statute that was first submitted to the United Nations, the ICC operates independently. Most countries on earth — 123 of them — are parties to the treaty, but there are some very large and notable exceptions, including Russia.

The ICC is intended to be a “court of last resort” and is not intended to replace the national judicial system. With 18 judges serving nine-year terms, the court will try her four crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, aggression and war crimes.

The United Nations released a report on Thursday that said Russia had “committed broad violations of international human rights and humanitarian law” in Ukraine.

War crimes committed by Russians include “attacks on civilians and energy infrastructure, willful killings, unlawful imprisonment, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence, and illegal transport of children,” the report said. and deportation.”

The findings also documented a small number of violations committed by the Ukrainian military, including “two attacks deemed to be indiscriminate attacks and two war crimes in which Russian prisoners of war were shot, wounded and tortured.” Incidents,” said the United Nations Human Rights Statement.

CNN’s Uliana Pavlova, Hira Humayun, Olga Voitovych, Ivana Kottasová, Yulia Kesaieva and Richard Roth contributed to the report.