The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on Friday.
The ICC accuses Putin of being responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine. Russian authorities have repeatedly denied the charges and call the arrest warrants senseless.
Now several experts claim that the arrest warrant could force Putin into a corner where the use of force is the only way out.
– He knows that if he loses the war, it is very likely that he will be deposed. So he will probably put even more effort into winning. Therefore, we must expect an escalation of the war effort, says Military researcher at the Department of Strategy and War Studies at the Danish Defense Academy, Kenneth Øhlenschlæger Buhl in Danish TV 2.
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– No way back
Some of the background for the expert saying this is that most heads of state and dictators who are overthrown by the use of force are sent to the International Criminal Court.
– Putin has already gone so far down that road that there is no turning back, says Flemming Splidsboel Hansen, senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies to the channel.
At the time of writing, arrest warrants have been issued for a number of former managers. Like for example Joseph Kony who is known to have led the Lord’s Resistance Army in an attempt to seize power in Uganda in the early 2000s. He is accused of twelve counts of human rights violations including murder, slavery, rape.
– Anything that further isolates Putin entails a risk. One risks that he will become even more determined to win this war. This will not help end the war anytime soon, says military analyst Sean Bell to British Sky News.
– Individual responsibility
The ICC grounds the arrest warrant against Putin and the Russian children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova on suspicion of the illegal deportation of children and the illegal transfer of people from Ukrainian territory to Russia.
According to the court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan, hundreds of Ukrainian children have been taken out of orphanages and taken to Russia, where many have since been adopted.
– There is reason to believe that Putin has an individual responsibility for these crimes, says the court’s reasoning.
Human Rights Watch is nevertheless pleased with the ICC’s arrest warrants, despite the fact that it will be very difficult to bring Putin before the International Criminal Court.
– With these arrest warrants, the ICC has made Putin a wanted man and has taken the first step to end the impunity that has encouraged the perpetrators of Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long, it continues.
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