Judith Pena | March 17, 2023
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued this Friday, March 17, an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova for crimes committed during the war in Ukraine. .
The international organization indicated that this arrest warrant is given on suspicion of deportation and illegal transfer of children from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
The arrest warrant indicates that the crimes would have been committed since at least February 24, 2022 in the occupied territory of Ukraine. “There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin is individually criminally responsible for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others,” they stated.
The order adds that Putin did not exercise adequate control over the civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed them to take place while under his authority and control.
For their part, the Russian authorities dismissed this order, assuring that it has no legal validity. “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, even from a legal point of view,” Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Telegram.
