Arrest Warrant Against Vladimir Putin Justified, Says US Prez Joe Biden

New Delhi: The United States President Joe Biden said that International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin is justified, as reported by The Guardian. Biden said that Putin has clearly committed war crimes. “Well, I think it’s justified,” the US president said on Friday, as quoted by The Guardian.

He further said that it is not recognised internationally but makes a very strong point. “But the question is – it’s not recognised internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point,” The Guardian quoted Biden as saying. The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on suspicion of unlawful deportation of minors and the unlawful movement of people from Ukrainian territory to the Russian Federation, news agency Reuters reported. 

Russian leaders on Friday strongly criticised the International Criminal Court (ICC) for issuing an arrest warrant against their President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of being responsible for war crimes committed in Ukraine. According to Reuters, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said that Moscow found the very questions raised by the ICC “outrageous and unacceptable”. He noted that Russia, like many other countries, does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC.

“And accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the Russian Federation from the point of view of law,” he stated. He was asked if Putin feared travelling to countries that recognised the ICC and might try to arrest him, Peskov was quoted saying: “I have nothing to add on this subject. That’s all we want to say.”

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova also shared similar views saying: “The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view. Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it.”

“Who would have thought 15 years ago that in the West taking care of children, saving them and helping them would become a criminal offence,” she added, as per Reuters.

Ria novosti news agency quoted Russian children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova as saying: “It’s great that the international community has appreciated this work to help the children of our country: that we don’t leave them in war zones, that we take them out, that we create good conditions for them, that we surround them with loving, caring people.”

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy hailed the decision as “historic”, saying it “will lead to historic accountability. The head of the terrorist state and another official have officially become suspects in a war crimes case.”