The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant on Friday for Russian President Vladimir Putin over alleged war crimes committed during his military operation in Ukraine, CNBC reports.
The court also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights.
The court wrote in a statement that Lvova-Belova is “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation” of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia.
Earlier in the week, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Kremlin does not recognize the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
The Kremlin has previously denied that its troops commit war crimes.
Decisions of the International Criminal Court are of no consequence in Russia and any arrest warrants are null and void, International Criminal Court, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Friday, TASS reports.
"Decisions of the International Criminal Court are of no consequence in our country, including from the legal perspective," Zakharova said on Telegram. "Russia isn’t a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is under no obligation arising from it. Russia doesn’t cooperate with the organization, and any potential arrest ‘recipes’ originating from the international court will be null and void for us."
