Ukraine war: International court issues warrant for Putin's arrest
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[March 18, 2023]
By Bart H. Meijer and Olena Harmash
AMSTERDAM/KYIV (Reuters) - The International Criminal Court (ICC) on
Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin,
alleging Moscow's forcible deportation of Ukrainian children is a war
crime, as the Kremlin reacted with outrage.
Russia has not concealed a programme under which it has brought
thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia but presents it as a
humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the
conflict zone.
Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the move would lead to
"historic accountability", adding that the deportations constituted a
policy of "state evil which starts precisely with the top official of
this state."
The announcement provoked a furious response from Moscow. Kremlin
spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia found the very questions raised by
the ICC "outrageous and unacceptable", and that any decisions of the
court were "null and void" with respect to Russia. Russia, like the
United States and China, is not a member of the ICC.
"Yankees, hands off Putin!" wrote parliament Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin,
a close ally of the president, on Telegram.
"We regard any attacks on the president of the Russian Federation as
aggression against our country," he said.
The United States said there was "no doubt" Russia was committing war
crimes in Ukraine. The court also issued a warrant for Maria
Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, on the same
charges.
Putin, only the third serving president to have been issued an arrest
warrant by the ICC, is unlikely to end up in court any time soon. But
the warrant means that he could be arrested and sent to The Hague if he
travels to any ICC member states.
"This makes Putin a pariah. If he travels he risks arrest. This never
goes away. Russia cannot gain relief from sanctions without compliance
with the warrants," said Stephen Rapp, former U.S. ambassador-at-large
for war crimes.
Residents of the Russian capital expressed disbelief at the news.
"Putin! Nobody will arrest him," a man who gave his name only as Daniil,
20, told Reuters.
Maxim said, "We will protect him - the people of Russia."
BEIJING, MOSCOW TIES
Moscow's forces have been accused of multiple abuses during Russia's
year-old invasion of its neighbour Ukraine, including by a U.N.-mandated
investigative body that this week described soldiers making children
watch loved ones being raped.
Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations its forces have committed
atrocities during the invasion, which it calls a special military
operation.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan began investigating possible war crimes,
crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago. He said he
was looking at alleged crimes against children and the targeting of
civilian infrastructure.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs
a meeting on the social and economic development of Crimea and
Sevastopol, via videolink in Moscow, Russia March 17, 2023
Sputnik/Mikhail Metzel/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo
News of the arrest warrant came ahead of a planned state visit to
Moscow next week by Chinese President Xi Jinping which is likely to
cement much closer ties between Russia and China just as relations
between Moscow and the West hit new lows.
Beijing and Moscow struck a "no limits" partnership shortly before
the invasion, and U.S. and European leaders have said they are
concerned Beijing may send arms to Russia.
China has denied any such plan, criticising Western weapon supplies
to Ukraine, which will soon extend to fighter jets after Poland and
Slovakia this week approved deliveries. The Kremlin said the jets
would be destroyed and not change the course of the conflict.
China is keen to deflect Western criticism over Ukraine, but its
close ties to Russia and its refusal to label Moscow’s war an
invasion have fuelled scepticism about the prospect that Beijing
might act as a mediator in the conflict.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby said on Friday
the United States had deep concerns China might try to promote a
ceasefire because that would not currently lead to a just and
lasting peace between Ukraine and Russia.
BAKHMUT FIGHTING
Ukrainian forces continued on Friday to withstand Russian assaults
on the ruined city of Bakhmut, the focal point for eight months of
Russian attempts to advance through the industrial Donetsk region in
eastern Ukraine bordering Russia.
Bakhmut has become Europe's bloodiest infantry battle since World
War Two. Russian forces have captured the city's eastern part but
have so far failed to encircle it.
The General Staff of Ukraine's armed forces said Russia had carried
out 19 airstrikes and 26 rocket attacks on Friday.
Russian forces also conducted four air strikes on the frontline town
of Avdiivka south of Bakhmut on Friday, Yermak, the Ukrainian
presidential staff chief, wrote on Telegram. "The city is being
shelled almost around the clock," he wrote.
Reuters could not immediately verify those battlefield reports.
Russia denies deliberately attacking civilians but says it has hit
infrastructure to degrade Ukraine's military and remove what it says
is a potential threat to its own security.
Ukraine and its allies accuse Moscow of an unprovoked war to grab
territory from its pro-Western neighbour.
(Additional reporting by Mike Collett-White, Max Hunder, Rami Ayyub,
Gabrielle Tétrault-Farber and Reuters bureaux; writing by Philippa
Fletcher and William Maclean; Editing by Gareth Jones, Frank Jack
Daniel and Cynthia Osterman)
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