International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant For Putin's War Crimes In Ukraine

President Putin during a speech to the Russian Parliament. (Source: Ramil Sitdikov/RIA Novosti via Kremlin)

JAKARTA - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for the unauthorized deportation of Ukrainian children. An arrest warrant was issued on Friday, March 17.

The Hague-based ICC said it had also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Below, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, on similar charges.

Even though Russia is not a member of the ICC. It is unclear how the ICC plans to enforce the warrant.

"Today, the PRE-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two persons in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Mrs. Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova," the ICC said in a statement quoted by Chanelnewsasia.

Putin is allegedly responsible for war crimes for the unlawful deportation of the population (children) and the unlawful transfer of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

The ICC said the crimes took place on February 24, 2022, when Russia invaded Ukraine.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the crimes mentioned above," he said.

Putin is alleged to have been responsible both directly for carrying out the act and for "failure to exercise proper control over the civilian and military subordinates who carried out the act, or authorized the act to be carried out".

The arrest warrants were withheld to protect victims and witnesses, he said.

The ICC is a court of last resort for crimes that states cannot or will not prosecute for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan launched an investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine just days after the Russian invasion.

Khan said the alleged kidnapping of children was a priority for the investigation after visiting Ukraine earlier this month

"Children cannot be treated as spoils of war," he said in a statement on March 7.

Posting a photo of himself beside an empty crib, Khan said he had visited an orphanage for children in southern Ukraine which was empty, due to the alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation or other occupied areas.

Khan also confirmed that the ICC was investigating attacks on "critical civilian infrastructure" in Ukraine and that he had visited several sites of such attacks.

Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but Kyiv has accepted the court's jurisdiction and is cooperating with Khan's office. Russia denies accusations of war crimes by its troops. Experts say it is unlikely that the suspect will be handed over.