Lagatar24 Desk
New Delhi, March 18: The International Criminal Court announced on Friday an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on the war crime accusation of unlawfully deportation of Ukraine children.
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 denounced the directives as “invalid.” It was unclear whether or how Putin might ever find himself in court because Russia is not a participant to the ICC.
The news of the ICC was received favourably by the war-torn Ukraine, with President Volodymyr Zelensky praising the “historic decision.”
The court’s shocking announcement came hours after other news that may have had a huge influence on Russia’s conflict in Ukraine, including the arrival of additional fighter planes for Kyiv’s military and the visit of Chinese leader Xi Jinping to Moscow.
According to Kyiv, more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been sent back to Russia since the invasion on February 24, 2022, with many of them supposedly being placed in institutions and foster homes.
Putin is now subject to arrest if he steps foot in any of the court’s more than 120 member states, according to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, who spoke to AFP. He stated that the arrest warrants were “based upon forensic evidence, scrutiny, and what’s been spoken by those two persons”.
ICC President Piotr Hofmanski said the execution of the warrants “depends on international cooperation”.
