Russian President Vladimir Putin. Photo: AFP / Sputnik
By Bart H. Meijer and Stephanie van den Berg
US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has clearly committed war crimes and the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for him was justified.
The ICC earlier on Friday called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow's invasion began of its neighbor last year. The United States is not a member of the ICC.
"He's clearly committed war crimes," Biden told reporters, referring to Putin.
"Well, I think it's justified," Biden added, referring to the warrant. "But the question is - it's not recognized internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point."
The United States separately has concluded that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine and supports accountability for perpetrators of war crimes, a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities (in) Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable," the spokesperson added. "This was a decision the ICC prosecutor reached independently based on the facts before him."
Moscow has repeatedly denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during its one-year invasion of its neighbour and the Kremlin branded the court decision as "null and void" with respect to Russia.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but Kyiv granted it jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory.
The tribunal, with 123 member states, has no police force of its own and relies on member countries to detain and transfer suspects to The Hague for trial.
NZ professor: 'Particularly heinous crime'
A Waikato University law professor said the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant against Putin is more than just a symbolic gesture.
Gillespie said the move will hurt Russia and Putin's international image.
"It kind of undermines the message that you're going to help the Ukranians.
"I mean, to be involved in the deportation of children is a particularly heinous crime. It's one that dates back to the Second World War.
"It's a long-standing crime and to be associated with it doesn't bring honour on your country."
He said Putin's arrest warrant will make peace talks more difficult.
Kremlin: 'Nothing to add'
While it is unlikely that Putin will end up in court any time soon, the warrant means that he could be arrested and sent to The Hague if travelling to any ICC member states.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC "outrageous and unacceptable".
Asked if Putin now feared travelling to countries that recognised the ICC, Peskov said: "I have nothing to add on this subject. That's all we want to say."
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel that the arrest warrants had "no meaning for our country" as it is not a party to the Rome Statute, the treaty underpinning the world's permanent war crimes tribunal.
Deportation of children
In its first warrant for Ukraine, the ICC called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
"The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes," it said.
Putin is the third serving president to be the target of an ICC arrest warrant, after Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi.
Reuters reported earlier this week that the court was expected to issue warrants.
The court also issued a warrant on Friday for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights, on the same charges.
She responded to the news with irony, according to RIA Novosti agency: "It's great that the international community has appreciated the work to help the children of our country."
Ukraine has said more than 16,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territories in Ukraine.
A US-backed report by Yale University researchers last month said Russia has held at least 6000 Ukrainian children at sites in Crimea, which Moscow annexed from Ukraine in 2014.
The report identified at least 43 camps and other facilities where Ukrainian children have been held that were part of a "large-scale systematic network" operated by Moscow since its February 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
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.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan opened an investigation into possible war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide in Ukraine a year ago.
He highlighted during four trips to Ukraine that he was looking at alleged crimes against children and the targeting of civilian infrastructure.
- Reuters