Biden upholds International Criminal Court arrest warrant for war crimes Vladimir Putin

president Joe Biden He supported the International Criminal Court (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir. Putin who he believes committed war crimes.’

“Well, I think that’s fair. But the problem is that we’re not internationally recognized either. But I think that makes for a very strong point,” Biden rallied on the south lawn. told reporters. White House on friday. “He clearly committed a war crime,” he later added.

The ICC called for Putin’s arrest on Friday. For the alleged illegal deportation of children and illegal deportation of people from Ukraine to Russia since the invasion of Moscow’s neighbors began last year. America is not a member of the ICC.

The United States has separately concluded that Russian forces committed war crimes in Ukraine and supports accountability for perpetrators of war crimes, a State Department spokeswoman said.

The ICC move requires the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.

“There is no doubt that Russia has committed war crimes and atrocities (in Ukraine) and it is clear that those responsible must be held accountable,” they added.

“This was a decision made independently by the ICC prosecutors based on the facts at hand.”

The ICC move requires the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.

On Friday, the ICC also issued a warrant against Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Libova Belova, on the same charges.

The court’s shocking notice comes hours after other news that could have major implications for Russia’s war in Ukraine, such as Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Moscow and an increase in Kiev military fighter jets.

Chinese leaders are set to visit Russia next week to sign a deal that ushers in a new era of relations.

The US has accused China of considering shipping arms to support the Russian campaign, an accusation Beijing strongly denies.

Russia hosts at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in at least 43 camps and other facilities as part of a “massive organized network,” according to a report last month by US-backed Yale University researchers. are doing.

Putin “clearly committed a war crime,” he told reporters as he left the White House for his home in Delaware.

A resident is seen with a cat outside a damaged building as the Russian-Ukrainian war continues in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian territory of Mariupol

A Ukrainian police officer hides in front of a burning building hit by a Russian airstrike in Avdiuka, Ukraine, on Friday.

Ukrainian soldiers install the anti-tank missile system “Stunya” near Bakhmut in the Donetsk region of Ukraine on Friday.

More than 16,000 Ukrainian children are said to have been deported to Russia since the February 24, 2022 invasion, many of them in institutions and foster care, according to Kiev.

Russia denies accusations that Russian forces committed atrocities during the invasion.

Moscow dismissed the order as “null”. The Kremlin said on Friday that his ICC arrest warrant for Putin was outrageous but meaningless in relation to Russia.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: “Russia, like many other countries, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court, so from a legal point of view, the decision of this court is invalid,” he said.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev likened the warrant to toilet paper, but Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said it was “meaningless” for Russia.

War-torn Ukraine welcomed the ICC’s announcement, while President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed a “historic decision”.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said Putin would be responsible for arrest if he set foot in any of the ICC’s more than 120 member states.

He said the arrest warrant was “based on forensic evidence, scrutiny, and what was said by these two individuals.”

“The evidence we presented focused on crimes against children. Children are the most vulnerable part of our society,” Khan said.

The ICC said it granted Khan’s warrant application, which was remanded on February 22, after finding that a judge had “reasonable grounds” to suspect Putin’s criminal charges.

The ICC has called for Putin’s arrest, accusing him of illegally kidnapping Ukrainian children from his home and deporting them to Russia to be handed over to Russian families.Photo: Ukrainian children on a train from the Donbass region of Ukraine to Russia on February 22, 2022

President Xi Jinping will visit Russia from Monday to express his support for Russian President Vladimir Putin amid heightened East-West tensions over the conflict in Ukraine.

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s “Child Rights Commissioner” Maria Alekseevna Lvova Belova (pictured with Putin in February).

ICC president Piotr Hoffmansky said enforcement of the warrants “depends on international cooperation.”

At a meeting with Putin in mid-February, Lvova-Belova said she had adopted a 15-year-old from the run-down Ukrainian port city of Mariupol.

“I now know what it means to be a mother of a child from Donbass. It’s hard work, but we love each other. That’s for sure,” she told Putin.

“We evacuated orphanages to safety, arranged rehabilitation and prosthetics, and provided targeted humanitarian assistance,” she added.

The arrest warrant for Putin, a sitting head of state or member of the United Nations Security Council, is an unprecedented step for the ICC.

Established in 2002, the ICC is the court of last resort for the world’s worst crimes when countries are unable or unwilling to prosecute suspects.

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

Khan recently posted a photo from a trip to Ukraine with an empty bed in an empty orphanage and said investigating allegations of child abduction was a “priority”.

“It hurts,” he said. “You can see an empty crib and an empty bed juxtaposed with the children’s drawings on the wall.”

Zelensky, who met Khan during his visit, welcomed the arrest warrant for his opponents in Moscow.

“It’s a historic decision with a historic responsibility,” Zelensky said.

Ukraine’s western allies also welcomed the move.

US President Joe Biden said the warrant was “justified” and “makes a very strong case,” while pointing out that the US is not a member of the ICC.

“There is no doubt that Russia has committed war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine, and it is clear that those responsible must be held accountable,” a State Department spokesman said. “ICC prosecutors are independent actors.”

The UK “welcomed” the decision, while the European Union said it was “only the beginning”. Human Rights Watch said it was “a momentous day for the many casualties” of the Russian military.

But the ICC’s Khan said, “There are so many examples of people who think the law is beyond their reach.”

ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan Says Putin Will Be Responsible For Arrest If He Walks Into Member State Of Court

“Look at (Slobodan) Milosevic, Charles Taylor, (Radovan) Karadzic, (Latko) Mladic,” he said, referring to a string of war criminals from the former Yugoslavia and former Liberian president Taylor who faced justice. said.

Russia denies allegations of war crimes by its own forces. Experts say extradition of the suspect is unlikely.

Fighting is still raging in Ukraine, and Kiev welcomed news on Friday that Slovakia would donate 13 MiG-29 fighter jets.

Ukraine, which mainly wants the latest US-made F-16s, has long asked Western allies for fighter jets.