US’s Biden says war crimes indictment against Russia’s Putin justified

The Kremlin says the International Criminal Court indictment against Vladimir Putin is moot for Russian jurisdiction.

US President Joe Biden said it was clear that Vladimir Putin committed war crimes in Ukraine and spoke out on the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest issue Writ of the President of Russia Justified.

The United States, like Russia, is not a party to international tribunals, but Biden said the ICC made a strong claim against Putin.

“He clearly committed a war crime,” Biden told reporters on Friday. “I think it’s justified,” he said, referring to his arrest warrant.

“We are not internationally recognized either. But I think that will be a very strong point,” he added.

ICC on Friday called for Putin’s arrest Suspected of involvement in illegal deportation and transfer of children from occupied Ukrainian territories to Russia after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The court also issued an arrest warrant for Russia’s Commissioner for the Rights of the Child, Maria Libova Belova, on the same charges.

The ICC warrant now obliges 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 Kremlin said the court’s accusations against Putin were outrageous and meaningless in terms of Russian jurisdiction.

a US sponsored report Yale University researchers last month found that Russia is housing at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in at least 43 camps and other facilities as part of a “massive organized network.” bottom.

The Ukrainian government recently announced that more than 14,700 children had been deported to Russia. More than 1,000 of them left the port city of Mariupol, which had been besieged and nearly destroyed for weeks.

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 in an email.

“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,” the spokesperson added.

In a video statement, ICC President Piotr Hofmansky said a court judge had issued an arrest warrant, but it was up to the international community to enforce it. It does not have its own police force.

The ICC, in accordance with its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, can impose a maximum sentence of life imprisonment “when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime”. This establishes the ICC as a permanent court of last resort to prosecute political leaders and other major perpetrators of the world’s worst atrocities, including war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. it was done.