The International Criminal Court said Friday that it has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
It was the first time the global court has issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
The ICC said in a statement that Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
It also issued a warrant for the arrest of Maria Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation.
The move was immediately dismissed by Moscow — and welcomed by Ukraine as a major breakthrough. Its practical implications, however, could be limited as the chances of Putin facing trial at the ICC are extremely unlikely.
But the moral condemnation will likely stain the Russian leader for the rest of his life — and in the more immediate future whenever he seeks to attend an international summit in a nation bound to arrest him.
"So Putin might go to China, Syria, Iran, his ... few allies, but he just won’t travel to the rest of the world and won’t travel to ICC member states who he believes would ... arrest him,” said Adil Ahmad Haque, an expert in international law and armed conflict at Rutgers University.
Others agreed. “Vladimir Putin will forever be marked as a pariah globally. He has lost all his political credibility around the world. Any world leader who stands by him will be shamed as well,” David Crane, a former international prosecutor, told The Associated Press.
The court’s president, Piotr Hofmanski, said in a video statement that while the ICC’s judges issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to do so.
The court can impose a maximum sentence of life imprisonment “when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime,” according to its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, establishing the ICC as a permanent court of last resort to prosecute political leaders and other key perpetrators of the world’s worst atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Still, the chances of Putin facing trial remain extremely remote, as Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction — a position it vehemently reaffirmed Friday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that Russia doesn’t recognize the ICC and considers its decisions “legally void.” He added that Russia considers the court’s move “outrageous and unacceptable.”
Peskov refused to comment when asked if Putin would avoid making trips to countries where he could be arrested on the ICC’s warrant.
Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, has said that based on data from the country's National Information Bureau, 16,226 children were deported. Ukraine has managed to bring back 308 children.
Lvova-Belova, who was also implicated in the warrant, reacted with dripping sarcasm. "It is great that the international community has appreciated the work to help the children of our country, that we do not leave them in war zones, that we take them out, we create good conditions for them, that we surround them with loving, caring people,” she said.
Ukrainian officials were jubilant at the move.
In his nightly address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a “historic decision, from which historic responsibility will begin."
“The world changed," said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the “wheels of justice are turning," and added that "international criminals will be held accountable for stealing children and other international crimes.”
Olga Lopatkina, a Ukrainian mother who struggled for months to reclaim her foster children who were deported to an institution run by Russian loyalists, welcomed news of the arrest warrant. “Everyone must be punished for their crimes,” she said in an exchange of messages with the AP.
While Ukraine is also not a member of the global court, it has granted it jurisdiction over its territory and ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has visited four times since opening an investigation a year ago.
Besides Russia and Ukraine, the United States and China are not members of the 123-member ICC.
The ICC said its pre-trial chamber found “reasonable grounds” that Putin "bears individual criminal responsibility” for the child abductions “for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others" and for failing to “exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts.”
After his most recent visit this month, ICC prosecutor Khan said he went to a care home for children 2 kilometers (just over a mile) from front lines in southern Ukraine.
“The drawings pinned on the wall ... spoke to a context of love and support that was once there," he said in a statement. "But this home was empty, a result of alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation or their unlawful transfer to other parts of the temporarily occupied territories.”
“As I noted to the United Nations Security Council last September, these alleged acts are being investigated by my office as a priority. Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,” Khan said.
And while Russia rejected the allegations and warrants of the court, others said the ICC action will have an important impact.
“The ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long," said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. "The warrants send a clear message that giving orders to commit, or tolerating, serious crimes against civilians may lead to a prison cell in The Hague.”
Crane, who indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor 20 years ago for crimes in Sierra Leone, said dictators and tyrants around the world "are now on notice that those who commit international crimes will be held accountable.”
Taylor was eventually detained and put on trial at a special court in the Netherlands. He was convicted and sentenced to 50 years' imprisonment.
On Thursday, a U.N.-backed inquiry cited Russian attacks against civilians in Ukraine, including systematic torture and killing in occupied regions, among potential issues that amount to war crimes and possibly crimes against humanity.
The sweeping investigation also found crimes committed against Ukrainians on Russian territory, including deported Ukrainian children who were prevented from reuniting with their families, a “filtration” system aimed at singling out Ukrainians for detention, and torture and inhumane detention conditions.
But on Friday, the ICC put the face of Putin on the child abduction allegations.
AP writers Hanna Arhirova in Kyiv, Ukraine; Ellen Knickmeyer in Washington, and Sarah El Deeb in Beirut contributed.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
69 Comments
sakurasuki
Try to catch him if they can, just need to pass Russia Military, People and Wagner group.
https://www.politico.com/news/2023/02/18/russia-wagner-group-ukraine-paramilitary-00083553
It just another piece of meaningless paper.
Bronco
Why isn't the US a member?
And why didn't anybody get an arrest warrant for what happened in Iraq, Libya or Afghanistan?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Putin: would you please pass the indicted my ass for warcrimes?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Boy, it would be a shame if that mattered f all to this story.
TaiwanIsNotChina
It means he can probably never attend another G20 summit or UN general assembly. Symbolism does matter and the international community has signaled that Putin belongs in same box and Lil' Kim.
cenobite
about time. his war is one big war crime.
Bronco
The UN General Assembly is in New York.
ICC rulings are not valid in the US because the US refused to sign the treaty for the ICC.
Another inconvenient truth is that Putin would be issued a diplomatic passport wherever he travelled, therefore making it impossible for any state to arrest him.
If you have a diplomatic passport, even if a warrant is issued for your arrest, the police can not arrest you.
dagon
Kissinger, Cheney, Putin, Kim; international war criminals who possess nuclear weapons will never be tried for the misery and death they caused before an international court of law.
Fairly meaningless gesture.
fallaffel
The honorable thing Putin can do now is join the Wagner convicts and lead the charge on Bakhmut.
K3PO
And big Stevie Seagal.
falseflagsteve
This is an immature and regressive move made in desperation as the Ukraine situation is not going to plan. This ls likely to cause more trouble and more deaths.
BigP
It is the thought that counts! I for one welcome it.
stormcrow
Kidnapping Ukrainian children and then scattering throughout Russia via adoption agencies. A rather more sanitary version of ethnic cleansing. It’s also reminiscent of Lebensraum (living space) in which Hitler tried to Nazify parts of Europe.
To The Hague with Putin! Now that Putin’s been declared a war criminal, there will be more pressure on Xi not to assist Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine. Good timing since Xi will visit Putin next week.
wallace
The abduction of more than 15,000 Ukraine children is an act of genocide.
"ICC issues war crimes arrest warrant for Putin for alleged deportation of Ukrainian children. The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia."
"Because Russia does not recognise the court and does not extradite its citizens, it is highly unlikely that Putin or Lvova-Belova will be surrendered to the court’s jurisdiction any time soon."
deanzaZZR
@Bronco That would be an interesting test case. Please send Putin to JFK ASAP. A party will be there to greet him.
deanzaZZR
Who could forget the final boss?
wallace
The warrant was issued by the ICC, not Ukraine.
ok1517
Don't forget, there were others, too, who were charged by the ICC as well as military tribunals and sentenced.
Names: former Nazi Germany leaders (Nuernberg) , AlBashir, Milosovic (ICC) and many more!
PUTAin and cohortes will be next, if they don't take a dive out of a window first!
And a diplomatic pass won't help them to avoid prosecution!
It's a first step by the international community in the right direction with more to follow.
Glory to Ukraine!
Glory to heroes!
Ukraine prevails!
PTownsend
Each invasion/war was horrible, are you equating what Russian has done to Ukraine with those? How about Homs/Central African Republic, anywhere the Wagner Group and other Russian military miscreants have been? Ukraine is still happening today, and there is plenty of evidence to be found, plus many witnesses are still alive to tell their side of the story. What are Putin and his supporters afraid of?
gcbel
Of course Putin will never see the inside of a court room. A Tokarev retirement courtesy of the siloviki would be more likely.
fallaffel
Alleged war criminal Putin must go to the ICC to clear his good name.
Yrral
Wallace,what court are sitting on,but the court of public opions,are you a member of the international internet judicial committee, Google Internet Justice
wallace
Yrral
the ICC has the evidence to charge Putin. Maybe, you don't care about abducted children. Shame.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Lawyers doing their job collecting evidence and judges doing their job naming and shaming is going to cause more trouble and deaths? Please do enlighten us how that would happen.
wallace
150,000 missing children.
u_s__reamer
It came late, but it's a start and it's now official: Putin is an international pariah. More charges ought to follow because abducting children to "russify" them, while pure Nazi playbook, is only a fraction of the war crimes that he's responsible for. To balance the books and avoid accusations of hypocrisy, it's also high time the US & UK looked in the mirror, too, and handed their own war criminals over to the Hague. We know their names and what they did. This war of aggression in the Ukraine should be a wake-up call for the whole world to put its own house in order by getting serious about democracy, freedom of speech and human rights.
HonestDictator
The fact is that Putin didn't want to prevent, in fact he encouraged his military to rape, plunder, kill civilians and non-combatants, as well as kidnap from Ukraine.
Where in that did you find a comparison where the US leadership encouraged or condoned the above actions when it comes to war crimes?
The main thing I see here is that Putin is now the new "Hitler" of the era. Not so much on the genocidal part, but the "I can conquer and take what I want" part. He can't travel outside of "friendly" nations. His mistress and some of his children are outside of those locations.
Jimizo
I don’t know how much time he’s got left anyway. He looks a physical wreck.
If they could jail him, it would be pretty convenient. You could fit him in a hamster cage.
A blizzard of whataboutery on here was expected and it certainly came. Not as much in the way of defending this atrocious little man. That was also expected.
Very poor show overall.
Jimizo
I’m surprised someone hasn’t called the ICC ‘woke’ yet.
Jimizo
ICC members probably drive EVs and believe humans are contributing to global warming.
Toblerone
Meaningless and baseless. But the “Ukraine prevails!” crue can celebrate their sugar high, before the crash.
Toblerone
A blizzard of whataboutery on here was expected
In other words, perfectly appropriate and legitimate points raised. The deflections of hypocrites dont change that in the least.
wallace
This week, Putin introduced new laws giving longer prison sentences to citizens speaking against the war.
"Russian President Vladimir Putin has signed a new law into effect that calls for sentences of up to 15 years in prison for people who distribute "false news" about the Russian military."
https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-military-false-news/31737627.html
TaiwanIsNotChina
You don't think the US would come up with something creative like have Putin deposited naked in Kiev or something?
Fairly certain that doesn't apply to international arrest warrants. Or the state that issues him a diplomatic passport rather than a one way ticket to The Hague aught to be considered not in compliance with the ICC.
Jimizo
A little autocrat. His apologists see something in him.
What is it they like?
M3M3M3
A diplomatic solution is now effectively off the table and we're a few seconds closer to midnight. Whatever you think of Putin and the war, this was an incredibly reckless and unnecessary intervention by the ICC.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Nothing has changed with that. Putin can sign the instrument of surrender in Turkey if he has to.
Putin has said he doesn't want to live in a world without Russia. Maybe he should consider that the rest of us don't want to live in a world with his fascist empire resurgent.
fallaffel
How is it baseless? They have already admitted to forcibly abducting these children and sending them to new families.
Meaningless depends on the context. Maybe meaningless in that he will probably not be arrested, but not meaningless in that Putin's legacy is now "Alleged War Criminal Putin" (until he clears the charges in court).
Antiquesaving
How interesting, so does the USA, despite setting up the court , the USA doesn't recognize its jurisdiction over the USA and it's people.
So Russia and the USA agree
buchailldana
In realpolitik this seems crazy.
If Putin is ever arrested, expect a western leader to be arrested by the Russians.
fallaffel
US leaders can still be accused of war crimes by the ICC. So if you believe they are guilty of a war crime, please bring it up.
TaiwanIsNotChina
They'd have to trump up some charges, presumably in advance. Even the Russian kangaroo courts don't work that fast.
Antiquesaving
The head judge is Polish, a large portion of the rest, Canada, France Germany, Georgia, Italy, South Korea, Japan, Hungary, make up over half the judges and are from countries members of NATO or Actively supporting Ukraine or openly hostile towards Russia (Georgia) or Both Openly hostile and in NATO (Poland.
Talk about an all white southern court and a black defendant and a white victim the the 1950s
Ego Sum Lux Mundi
Checkmate, Putin!
This is a perfect example of how Clown World’s inability to understand the difference between 'influence' and 'power' is leading directly to its outright destruction... Unless, of course, I'm entirely wrong about this. In which case, it’s terrible to think of how many lives could have been spared if only a brave and stunning judge had issued a warrant for the arrest of Adolf Hitler.
Antiquesaving
The list would take all day but how about just Iraq for now!?
But in Biden's words
So the hypocrisy is so thick, the countries calling for charges can't even get their biggest backers to sign the agreement.
Antiquesaving
You do realize that Putin could fly to the USA tomorrow and nothing would happen even if he wasn't visiting as the Russian President?
The USA China and Russia don't recognize the ICC and for that fact will not in force any arrest warrant.
rainyday
The US did not set up the ICC and, in fact, fought tooth and nail against its creation. Get your facts straight. There is a lot of real stuff to criticize the US for in relation to its refusal to join the court, you don’t need to invent imaginary narratives to accomplish that.
Antiquesaving
Please thel the ICC to get its facts straight
https://www.aba-icc.org/about-the-icc/the-us-icc-relationship/#:~:text=At%20present%20123%20nations%20have,is%20not%20a%20State%20Party.
UChosePoorly
Remember that one time back in February of last year you predicted the Russian army was going to roll up Ukraine and sweep across Europe to Lisbon? That was awesome.
proxy
Does the USA recognize the International Criminal Court?
TaiwanIsNotChina
Surprise, surprise. When you cultivate fear in the entire world and piss off everyone who might have come to help you, it might come back to hurt you.
Putin is about as much of a victim as I am a billionaire.
TaiwanIsNotChina
Do nonsequiters make Putin non an indicted war criminal?
Antiquesaving
ICC 123 members but somehow out of 18 judges we have UK, Poland, Italy, France, Germany, Hungary and Canada all EU and or NATO.
The only 2 Asian are South Korea and Japan. Oh right allies to NATO.
Understand that 123 members and EU/NATO make up a disproportionate number of judges. over half!
UChosePoorly
Hopefully just the first of many. Putin may or may not ever receive earthly justice, but Putin didn’t do this alone. There are many that helped. More warrants to come is my guess.
Antiquesaving
I will let Biden answer that:
So no!
UChosePoorly
AS - if you know some respected legal minds from Belarus or North Korea and would like to nominate them to the ICC, go for it.
If a country doesn’t have an independent judiciary, how do you expect the rest of us to take their judges seriously?
cleo
What 'good name'? Yer can't clear what you ain't got in the first place.
The witch (aka alleged war criminal) Maria Lvova-Belova talks about 'the children of our country, that we do not leave them in war zones' -condemning herself and her boss out of her own mouth, by claiming Ukrainian children to be 'our children' (thus admitting intent to steal and russify the children) and claiming they were in a war zone, not a special military operation zone. AWC Vlad will not like that. Maybe he'll put her in prison for 15 years.
Or maybe not. He'll blame it all on NATO.
Toblerone
He's clearly committed war crimes," Biden told reporters, referring to Putin.
"Well, I think it's justified," Biden added, referring to the warrant. "But the question is - it's not recognized internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point."
You couldnt make this up! Putin is laughing at the clownshow , and who can blame him?
Antiquesaving
Let's see do Belarus and North Korea account for 105 countries?
Approximately 30 countries in Europe are members that leaves quite a few from the rest of the world but somehow EU and NATO countries are very highly represented, let's see could bribery like everything else in these types of organizations have something to do with it? I wonder if the USA ever does an audit on the money sent to Ukraine if some will lead back to certain judges?
Grilledham&cheese
ClippetyClop
How about Crimes against Humanity for starters!
ClippetyClop
Needs to be more specific (for starters).
Toblerone
Does the USA recognize the International Criminal Court?
No. Now why is that?
cleo
He is the psychopath who set all of this in motion.
starpunk
By the same regard GEWB and DJT also should be arrested for war crimes/crimes against humanity. And for that manner the whole scumbag junta of Myanmar too.
This may be symbolic and it may not. Slobodan Milosevic (along with other Yugoslav war criminals) was arrested and he died in the Hague, awaiting a UN tribunal hearing for his genocide charges.
This may now galvanize some Russians to overthrow Putin and bring him to justice.
wallace
No word from Putin supporters or ICC deniers about the victims, the children. Some of them have been used in Putin's propaganda movies against Ukraine.
Fredrik
Well, they could probably have come up with something worse than "child abduction". And not waited one year to do so. How are they going to enforce this? I don't know if he is guilty of these charges or not. In either case, he need to be dealt with.
Toblerone
And why didn't anybody get an arrest warrant for what happened in Iraq, Libya or Afghanistan?
Why indeed?
ClippetyClop
You not knowing why they didn't is a pretty strong clue.
Apparently it's okay to kidnap kids 'coz of Iraq, 'Nam, Grenada, Zebras etc.
Fredrik
One implication of this is that peace negotiations are no longer and option. Putin will have to fight until he falls. Unless Russia deals with this internally, or this is dealt with otherwise, the only outcome is WW3.