This is where things get dangerous for Putin

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Adversity for Vladimir Putin (70). The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for the Russian president and his children’s rights commissioner Maria Lwowa-Belowa (38). The most important questions and answers.

The ICC accuses Putin of illegally deporting children from the occupied territories to the Russian Federation. There are “sufficient reasons” to believe that Putin is “personally responsible” for the kidnapping, which has been classified as a war crime.

Scientists from Yale University in the US have proven that the Russian government has kidnapped at least 6,000 Ukrainian children since the beginning of the offensive war against Ukraine. Those affected are between four months and 17 years old. In March, the Ukrainian government spoke of more than 16,000 abducted children.

The arrest warrant for the Kremlin chief and his accomplice Lvova-Belowa is the first in connection with alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine.

The ICC is a court established to try war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Based in The Hague, Netherlands, it is the only permanent international court with jurisdiction to hold individuals, including heads of state, accountable for these grave crimes.

A total of 123 countries, including all EU countries and Switzerland, have signed the Rome Statute. Not participating are China, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Iraq, North Korea, Saudi Arabia and Turkey. Russia, the US and Sudan have withdrawn their recognition of the statute.

“We do not recognize this court; We do not recognize his responsibility,” Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov, 55, told journalists in Moscow on Tuesday morning. Peskow reaffirmed this statement Friday evening.

If the Russian president sets foot in one of the 123 signatory states, he will be arrested. Alexander Hug (49), who works for the International Commission on Missing Persons, explains to Blick: “The freedom of movement of the Russian president was restricted with this arrest warrant.”

Whether Putin will ever end up behind bars remains to be seen. Because without an arrest, the ICC cannot start a trial against him, says Hug. Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, the Russian president has rarely left his country and has not yet visited Western countries. It is not foreseeable that this will now change.

“The charge of deporting children by the International Criminal Court was probably chosen because it is likely that some evidence could be secured here,” Hug explains the ICC’s decision.

After the arrest warrant against Putin was issued, the Ukrainian leadership rejoiced. Top adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (44), Mykhailo Podolyak (51), tweeted: “The world has changed. This is a clear signal to the elites of the Russian Federation what will happen to them and why things are no longer will be the same as before. It is the beginning of the end of Russia in its current form on the world stage.”

Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba (41) also said on Twitter: “The wheels of justice are turning: I welcome the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova for the violent kidnapping of Ukrainian children. International criminals will be held responsible for child theft and other international crimes.”

Source: Blick