Vladimir Putin was the subject of an arrest order issued by the International Criminal Court on Friday due to allegations that he committed war crimes in Ukraine.
According to a press statement from the court, Putin committed the “war crime” of approving the illegal kidnapping and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,” the court, based in The Hague, Netherlands, said its pre-trial judges had assessed.
Putin had, according to the report, failed to “exercise proper control over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed them to be committed, and who were under his effective authority and control.” Similar crimes are also allegedly perpetrated by Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Putin’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, according to the ICC.
Karim Khan, who serves as chief prosecutor of the ICC, said in a statement that the evidence indicates that Putin and Lvova-Belova “bear criminal responsibility” for the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
“We must ensure that those responsible for alleged crimes are held accountable and that children are returned to their families and communities,” he said.
Putin’s press secretary Dmitriy Peskov rejected the findings of the international court, “We do not recognize this court, we do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. This is how we treat this,” he said in a Telegram post.
The release stated that the court was “mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes,” even though warrants are frequently issued in secret “to protect victims and witnesses as well as to safeguard the investigation.”
Source – Tru News Report
