The International Criminal Court on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of a war crime over the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children.
The Hague-based court said it had also issued an arrest warrant on similar charges against Russia’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova Belova.
The Kremlin rejected the decision as “invalid” because Russia is not a party to the International Criminal Court, so it was not clear if or how Putin could be extradited.
War-torn Ukraine welcomed the ICC’s announcement, and its President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the decision as “historic”. Ukraine’s attorney general said the “historic” memorandum against Putin “is only the beginning”.
The court’s surprise announcement came hours after other news that could greatly affect Russia’s war in Ukraine, including an upcoming visit by Chinese President Xi Jinping to Moscow and the award of more fighter jets to Kiev’s forces.
More than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the start of the invasion on February 24, 2022, according to Kiev, and many of them have been placed in institutions and nursing homes.
The court said the arrest warrants, which were issued after the submission of public prosecutor Karim Khan, were issued for the “presumed war crime of illegal deportation of children from occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation” since the start of the invasion.
“The implementation of (the arrest warrants) depends on international cooperation,” added the head of the International Criminal Court, Piotr Hofmansky.
During a meeting on February 16 in the Kremlin, Lvova Belova told Putin that she had “adopted” a child from the Ukrainian city of Mariupol, which was devastated by the Russian army before its occupation in the spring of 2022.
“Now I know what it’s like to be a mother to a child from Donbass – it’s a tough job but we love each other, that’s for sure,” she added.
“We evacuated the children to safe areas, arranged for their rehabilitation and prostheses, and provided them with humanitarian aid,” Belova said.
Established in 2002, the court is a court of last resort for the worst crimes in the world when states are unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects.
Just days after the start of the Russian invasion, Attorney General Karim Khan launched an investigation into possible war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.
Khan said earlier this month, after a visit to Ukraine during which he posted a picture of himself next to an empty cot in an empty care home, that the investigation into the alleged kidnapping of children was a priority.
“Children cannot be treated as spoils of war,” he added in a statement on March 7.
The decision was praised by Ukraine’s Attorney General Andriy Kostin, who met Khan on his visit.
“The world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and that its leadership and followers will be held accountable,” Kostin said on social media.
But Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova rejected the two arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court.
“The decisions of the International Criminal Court are of no importance to our country,” Zakharova said via Telegram, adding that “Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligations under it.”
In turn, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Twitter that the International Criminal Court “has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin. There is no need to explain where this paper should be used,” adding an emoji (emoji) with the image of toilet paper.
Earlier Friday, Beijing and Moscow announced that the Chinese leader will visit Russia next week to sign agreements that open a new era of relations.
The United States has accused China of considering giving Russia arms shipments to support its war – an accusation Beijing has strongly denied.
The arrest warrants come a day after United Nations investigators declared that Russia’s forcible transfer and deportation of Ukrainian children to areas under its control amounted to a war crime.
The investigators cited testimonies of children being told by Russian social services that they would be given into foster families or adopted.
The President of the International Criminal Court, Piotr Hofmansky, said that the Geneva Convention prohibits the occupation authorities from transferring civilians.
He added that the contents of the arrest warrants were kept confidential “in order to protect the victims”.
“However, the judges of the circuit looking into this case decided to announce the existence of two arrest warrants for the sake of justice and in order to prevent future crimes,” the official continued.
In a separate statement, the court said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that Putin is personally responsible for the aforementioned crimes”.
It added that Putin claims he is directly responsible for the commission of these acts and for “failure to properly exercise control over his civilian and military subordinates”.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but Kiev has accepted the court’s jurisdiction and is working with Khan’s office.
Russia denies allegations that its forces committed war crimes, and experts rule out that it will hand over any suspects.
Internationally, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that this decision “is only the beginning of the process of holding Russia and its leader accountable for the crimes and atrocities they are committing in Ukraine. There can be no impunity.”
“We welcome the step taken by the independent International Criminal Court to hold those at the top of the Russian regime accountable, including Vladimir Putin,” British Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said on Twitter.