Russian parliament speaker proposes banning ICC over Putin warrant
Russia is not a party to the ICC and dismissed the arrest warrant for Putin as 'void'
Russia’s parliament speaker on Saturday proposed banning the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC) after it issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes.
Vyacheslav Volodin, a close ally of Putin’s, said that Russian legislation should be amended to prohibit any activity of the ICC in Russia and to punish any who gave “assistance and support” to the ICC.
“It is necessary to work out amendments to legislation prohibiting any activity of the ICC on the territory of our country,” Volodin said in a Telegram post.
The ICC issued an arrest warrant last week accusing Putin of war crimes, including illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. It said there are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility.
The ICC said it also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, on similar charges. Moscow dismissed the orders as "void," with some statesmen issuing hyperbolic threats against the Hague-based court. Russia is not a party to the ICC so it was unclear if or how Putin could ever end up in the dock.