NOS News•
US President Biden thinks it is right that the International Criminal Court in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant against his Russian counterpart Putin. “He has clearly committed war crimes.”
Putin is held responsible for mass deportations of Ukrainian children from the war zone to Russia. An arrest warrant is also pending against an official who was in charge of the incident.
“I think it’s justified,” Biden responded. While noting that the US, like Russia, does not recognize the ICC, he called it “a clear signal”.
‘historic moment’
It is the first time that a world leader has been prosecuted at this level by the ICC. In its 20 years of existence, 52 individuals have been charged, including Ugandan rebel leader Kony, Sudanese President Bashir and Libyan leader Gaddafi, who was killed before he could be extradited.
Ukrainian President Zelensky, in his daily TV address, spoke of “a historic moment” that could be followed by a historic punishment. According to Zelensky, at least 16,000 children were brought to Russia. Putin must have been involved, the president said. “Such a massive criminal operation would be impossible without an order from the supreme leader of this terror state.”
The arrest warrant was laughed off in the Kremlin. A spokesman for Putin said it has no legal value in Moscow because the country has not recognized the jurisdiction of the international court. He called the order “outrageous and unacceptable”.
Travel made difficult
Russia’s non-cooperation with the court will make it difficult to implement the order. It does mean that Putin can no longer travel to the 123 drawers that do recognize the court, because they are obliged to extradite him.
The Kremlin spokesman declined to comment on whether Putin will take the order into account in his travels. Important allies such as China, Iran and Syria are not among the countries that should extradite Putin.
Minister Hoekstra of Foreign Affairs says that the Netherlands will do everything it can to “help the ICC in its important task of combating impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity”.
In addition to prosecuting Putin, Zelensky said he also wanted to focus on punishments for others who facilitated the deportations. “And of course we will continue to fight for the return of everyone. We will do everything we can to ensure that every Ukrainian, every woman, every child returns.”
