“The international arrest warrant issued by The Hague is purely symbolic but tells us that no one is untouchable”, so to Fanpage.it Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti, political analyst of ISPI (Institute for International Political Studies) according to which the decision of the International Criminal Court “could unnerve Xi Jinping already forced to face growing Western pressure to stop supporting the Russian regime”.
Interview with Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti
Political analyst ISPI – Institute for International Political Studies, expert in international law and Russia, Caucasus and Central Asia
Vladimir Putin
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Yesterday the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued a arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin, accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, and in particular of having deported thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia after the start of the invasion in Ukraine. A “symbolic” decision second Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosettipolitical analystSPI (Institute for International Political Studies) and expert on Russia, the Caucasus and Central Asia, interviewed by Fanpage.it.
“Russia is not a member of the International Criminal Court (as are the United States and even Ukraine, which have never ratified the Rome Statute but nevertheless recognize the court’s jurisdiction) – explains the expert in international law – at the same time, the court does not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin would have to be physically taken to The Hague in order to stand trial”.
Eleonora Tafuro Ambrosetti
So according to Tafuro Ambrosetti as long as Putin “remains in Russia he is safe”. It is the hypothesis of the Russian president that, after the request for an international arrest warrant, he can go “in Poland or in other states that could enforce the arrest warrant and imprison him” it is highly unlikely.
Who is Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, accused of crimes with Putin: “She deported Ukrainian children”
According to the three judges of the International Criminal Court, the Italian Rosario Aitala, the Japanese Tomoko Akane and the Costa Rican Sergio Ugalde, the Russian president, together with Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belov, Commissioner of Children’s Rights in Moscow, would deported thousands of Ukrainian children and adolescents to Russiaagainst their will and then be subjected to forced adoption and re-education practices, so as to erase the Ukrainian identity, effectively violating the Geneva Conventions on international humanitarian law.
The violation of international humanitarian law is at the basis of the decision of the judges of The Hague who, according to the ISPI expert, wanted to launch “a very strong message”: this international arrest warrant tells us that “no one, not even the leader of a permanent member of the UN Security Council, it is ‘untouchable'”.
Finally, there is another important element in this Hague decision which concerns the imminent meeting between Russian President Putin and his Chinese namesake Xi Jinping who will travel to Moscow from March 20 to 22: “Even if I think the timing whether it’s a coincidence – explains Tafuro Ambrosetti – the decision comes just before Xi Jinping’s first visit to Russia since the start of Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine”.
“Men Putin – conclude – will try to portray the arrest warrant as further evidence of Western Russophobia, this may actually unnerve Xi who is already facing mounting Western pressure to stop supporting the Russian regime.”