ICC issues arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for war crimes

The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin’s arrest. The ICC has accused the president of being responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine. Reuters reported earlier this week the court was expected to hand out several warrants but it wasn’t known at the time which Russian officials would be wanted for alleged war crimes.

Putin, along with Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, are facing charges. The ICC issued the warrant on the grounds of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from Ukraine to Russia. Ukraine has said more than 16,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine. A U.S.-backed report by Yale University researchers last month said Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children at sites in Crimea.

Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed any war crimes during its invasion of Ukraine. The ICC arrest warrants “have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel.

The U.S. has been an advocate in holding Russians accountable for the ongoing war. The U.S. signed an international agreement to help prosecute war crimes, but the Pentagon has pushed back against sharing Russian war crimes information with the ICC. The Department of Defense said it is concerned such cooperation could set a precedent that could be used to prosecute American troops at the Hague.

These are the first warrants issued in the court’s investigation into the Russia-Ukraine war.