(ANSA) - THE HAGUE, MARCH 17 - The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in relation to the war in Ukraine.
Putin would be "responsible for the war crime of deportation and illegal transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia", reads the statement of the same Court.
In addition to Putin, another arrest warrant was issued against Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, commissioner for children's rights at the Kremlin.
The crimes would have been committed in the occupied territory of Ukraine at least as of February 24, 2022.
"There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for committing the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through a third party, and for his lack of control over the civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts," the note continues.
The Court underlines that the arrest warrants were issued by the II Preliminary Chamber after the indictment motions presented on 22 February 2023, exactly one year after the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and that it has so far kept them "secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation".
"However - explains the Court -, aware that the conduct contested in the present case would be in progress, and that public knowledge of the mandates can help prevent the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interest of justice to authorize the Chancellery to make public the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants have been issued and the methods of liability established by the Chamber".
(HANDLE).