US President Joe Biden has said that Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes and the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for him is justified.
The ICC earlier 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 neighbour last year. The US is not a member of the ICC.
“Well, I think it’s justified. But the question is – it’s not recognised internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point,” Biden said.
The US 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.”
The ICC move obligates the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory. The ICC also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, on the same charges.
A US-backed report by Yale University researchers last month said Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in at least 43 camps and other facilities as part of a ‘large-scale systematic network’.
Russia has denied accusations that its forces have committed atrocities during its invasion. The Kremlin said the ICC arrest warrant against Putin was outrageous, but meaningless with respect to Russia.
Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Crimea yesterday on an unannounced visit to mark the ninth anniversary of Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine.
Putin was greeted by the Russian-installed governor of Sevastopol, Mikhail Razvozhayev, and taken to see a new children’s centre and art school on what the official said was a surprise visit.
State media did not immediately broadcast any remarks from Putin, a day after the International Criminal Court said it had issued an arrest warrant against him and accused him of the war crimes.
Putin has yet to comment publicly on the move. His spokesman has called it ‘null and void’, and said that Russia finds the very questions raised by the ICC to be ‘outrageous and unacceptable’.
Russia seized Crimea in 2014, eight years before launching its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine says it will fight to expel Russia from Crimea and all other territory that Russia has occupied in the year-long war.
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