The International Criminal Court in The Hague (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Russian Children's Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova.
Source. This is reported on the court's website.
"Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on October 7, 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is probably responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population (children) and illegal transfer of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation. The crimes were likely committed in the occupied territory of Ukraine at least since February 24, 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin is individually criminally responsible for the above crimes, for committing the acts directly, together with other persons and/or through other persons, and for his inability to properly control the civilian and military subordinates who committed the said acts," the court order reads.
Lviv-Belov is also suspected of the same. It is reported that initially the warrants were secret, but it was decided to make the information public "to prevent further crimes."
"The Chamber recognized that the warrants were secret to protect victims and witnesses, as well as to ensure the security of the investigation. Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct at issue in this situation is likely to continue and that public awareness of the warrants may help deter further crimes, the chamber found it to be in the interests of justice to authorize the secretariat to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the names of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants were issued, and the remedies established by the chamber," the statement said.
The arrest warrants were issued on the basis of applications filed by the International Criminal Court prosecutor's office on February 22, 2023.
Russia has already reacted to the issuance of the arrest warrant for Putin.
In response to the decision of the International Criminal Court, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Russia would not comply with it, as "it is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is not bound by it."
"The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view," Zakharova said.
Background. According to the Prosecutor General's Office, from now on, after the issuance of an arrest warrant, the Russian president has the official status of a suspect in the commission of an international crime – the illegal forced transfer of Ukrainian children.