Arrest Warrant Against Putin

The International Criminal Court ICC has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. The court alleges he is responsible for war crimes, and has focused its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.

It says the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February 2022, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

Moscow has denied the allegations and labelled the warrants as outrageous.

Allegation on Putin

In a statement, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported. Mr Putin clearly committed war crimes, he said.

She has also claimed to have adopted a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol. The ICC said it initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public in the event that it stopped further crimes from being committed. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told the BBC children cant be treated as the spoils of war, they cant be deported.

Review of Opposition leaders

No need to explain WHERE this paper should be used, he wrote on Twitter, with a toilet paper emoji. However Russian opposition leaders welcomed the announcement.

• Ivan Zhdanov, a close ally of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, tweeted that it was a symbolic step but an important one.

• Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he was grateful to Mr Khan and the criminal court for their decision to press charges against state evil.

Mr. Putin a Wanted Man

But because Russia is not a signed member of the ICC, there is very little chance that Vladimir Putin or Maria Lvova-Belova will appear in the dock at The Hague. The ICC relies on the cooperation of governments to arrest people, and Russia is obviously not going to cooperate in this respect, Jonathan Leader Maynard, a lecturer in international politics at Kings College London, told the BBC.

Legally, however, this does present Mr Putin with a problem. While he is the head of a G20 state, and about to shake hands with Chinas Xi Jinping in an historic meeting, Mr Putin is now also a wanted man, and this will inevitably place restrictions on which countries he can visit.