Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today, Monday, that the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin will have serious consequences for international law.
Medvedev wrote in a post on the Telegram messaging application: “They decided to prosecute the president of … a nuclear power that does not participate in the International Criminal Court like the United States and other countries.”
“The consequences for international law will be dire,” he added.
Justice ministers from around the world meet in London on Monday to discuss increasing support for the International Criminal Court after it issued an arrest warrant last week for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The International Criminal Court has charged Putin with the war crime of deporting hundreds of unauthorized children from Ukraine. Moscow rejects the accusations, calling the move unacceptable and saying it has no legal force in Russia, and it is not a member of the International Criminal Court.
British Deputy Prime Minister Dominic Raab said: “We gather today in London united on one cause: to hold war criminals accountable for the atrocities committed in Ukraine during this unjust, illegal and unjustified invasion.”
He added, “The UK, along with the international community, will continue to provide the ICC with funding, personnel and expertise to ensure justice is served.”
Britain has pledged 1 million pounds ($1.22 million) to the court this year, and the Ministry of Justice has said it expects other countries to pledge financial support at the conference in London, which Britain and the Netherlands are co-hosting.
The ministry said the funding would go to training investigators to examine alleged war crimes, as well as psychological and practical support for victims.
For his part, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov says that Russia, like a number of other countries, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court, adding: “The decisions of this court are invalid.”
Officials in Russia also attribute the decision’s futility to several reasons, the most important of which is that Moscow does not recognize the jurisdiction of the Criminal Court and is not a party to the “Rome Convention”, which laid the foundations for the civil court, and therefore does not entail any legal obligations.
In mid-November 2016, Putin signed an order to stop Moscow’s participation in the Rome Convention establishing the International Criminal Court. Which means the exit of Russian lands from under the jurisdiction of the court.
The text of the order stated that Putin made the decision in response to a proposal submitted by the Russian Ministry of Justice in coordination with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the relevant bodies of the executive power, the Supreme Court, the Public Prosecution Office, and the Russian Investigative Committee.
Meanwhile, the Russian president issued instructions to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations of Russia’s intention to stop its participation in the Rome Convention establishing the International Criminal Court, which was adopted by the diplomatic conference sponsored by the United Nations in Rome on July 17, 1998.