NBA Republic
On March 17, President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Piotr Hofmansk, announced an arrest warrant for Putin, the President of the Russian Federation. The warrant was issued by ICC judges in order to have Mr. Putin arrested for alleged war crimes committed in Ukraine.
This warrant, according to analysts, is historic as it is the first time in the history of the ICC, a leader of a powerful nation like Russia, is declared wanted.
“There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility” for the child abductions “for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (and) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts,” ICC’s statement announcing Putin’s arrest warrant reads.
Situation in #Ukraine: #ICC judges issue arrest warrants against Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova
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https://t.co/5OMC7Xuuy5— Int'l Criminal Court (@IntlCrimCourt) March 17, 2023
Meanwhile, Russia, which is not a signatory to the ICC charter just as the United States, downplayed the warrant. According to the spokeswoman of the country’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, Maria Zakharova, “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view.” Maria said this in a Telegram post.
In this article, however, we’ll tell you some three things to know about this developing story.
- Russia is not a signatory to the Rome statute: The Russian Federation is not, and has never been a signatory member of the ICC. This means Russia, as a country, cannot enforce the warrant.
- US could not be in support: The US may sincerely or secretly be against ICC’s move to arrest Putin. This is because, the move could set a ‘dangerous’ precedent for the US and other countries that are not part of the court. Already, there are reports that exposed war crimes committed by the US in Afghanistan, Iraq, and few other countries. So, to try to arrest Putin for war crimes could pave way for similar actions to be taken against Western leaders who also committed war crimes.
- Putin is highly likely to not be arrested: Putin is a leader who does not often visit unfriendly countries. In addition, countries that are friendly to Russia, and are signatories to the Rome Statute, are likely to ignore the arrest warrant when Putin visits there.