On Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vla…

On Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of ordering war crimes during his invasion of Ukraine.^[0] The court’s pre-trial judges said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.”

The ICC also issued an arrest warrant for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the Russian commissioner for children’s rights.^[1] She has been accused of leading the forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia, many of whom were adopted by Russian families.^[2]

The court’s pre-trial judges assessed there were “reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children.”

The ICC was created as a result of the Rome Statute, but Russia is not a part of it and has no intention of handing over Putin or Lvova-Belova for prosecution.^[3] The Kremlin has denied the accusations and dismissed the ICC’s move as “null and void.”^[4]

The UN-backed inquiry found evidence that Russian authorities committed human rights violations, many of which “amount to war crimes,” including wilful killings, systematic torture, and the deportation of children.^[5]

Over 6,000 Ukrainian kids living in occupied territories have been sent to Russian-subsidized summer camps, and hundreds of them have yet to be reunited with their families.^[6] The U.S. Pentagon released a video showing the moments before a Russian fighter crashed into a U.S. Reaper drone after spraying it with jet fuel on Tuesday morning over the Black Sea.^[5]

The war in Ukraine continues to grind on into its second year and the allegations of war crimes committed by Russia have raised questions for the international community.^[7] An independent effort to investigate war crimes will be key to restoring international norms and ensuring that genocide and other atrocities are not tolerated.

0. “International Criminal Court Issues Arrest Warrant for Putin for War Crimes” Bloomberg, 18 Mar. 2023, https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-03-17/international-court-issues-warrant-for-putin-for-war-crime

1. “Biden says ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin is ‘justified’” New York Post , 18 Mar. 2023, https://nypost.com/2023/03/17/biden-says-iccs-arrest-warrant-for-putin-is-justified/

2. “International war crime authorities want to arrest Putin” Quartz, 17 Mar. 2023, https://qz.com/icc-putin-ukraine-russia-hague-war-crime-1850238534

3. “ICC judges issue arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes” The Guardian, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/mar/17/vladimir-putin-arrest-warrant-ukraine-war-crimes

4. “ICC issues Putin arrest warrant on Ukraine war crime allegations” Al Jazeera English, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/3/17/icc-issues-arrest-warrant-for-russias-putin-over-ukraine-crimes

5. “Russia-Ukraine war news: Finland and Turkey discuss NATO bid” The Washington Post, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/03/17/russia-ukraine-war-news/

6. “Prosecuting Putin for abducting Ukrainian children will require a high bar of evidence – and won't guarantee the children can come back home” The Conversation, 16 Mar. 2023, https://theconversation.com/prosecuting-putin-for-abducting-ukrainian-children-will-require-a-high-bar-of-evidence-and-wont-guarantee-the-children-can-come-back-home-201833

7. “Will Vladimir Putin ever face a war crimes trial?” BBC, 17 Mar. 2023, https://www.bbc.com/news/world-64994992