Vladimir Putin is a wanted man after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued a warrant of arrest for the Russian president. However, questions linger about how effective this will be in bringing justice to victims of the Ukraine war.
ICC issues warrant of arrest for Vladimir Putin
On Friday, the ICC sent shockwaves reverberating across the global political spectrum when, in a statement, The Hague branch announced its decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin, who stands accused of abducting Ukrainian children, per The Guardian.
The Russian president has been at the centre of a global row over his decision to invade Ukraine, an effort that’s taken the 70-year-old ruler longer than he’d initially anticipated.
With thousands of lives lost to senseless violence, the ICC honed its arrest warrant on Putin’s alleged involvement in the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children, an abhorrent act he allegedly colluded with his children’s rights commissioner Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova.
However, considering the ICC’s history since it was formed in 2002, questions remain on how impactful Putin’s arrest warrant will be in holding the Russian leader accountable for war crimes committed in the Ukraine invasion.
Can the ICC convict Putin?
The ICC was formed with the objective to bring justice to the world’s worst war criminals.
In 2011, the ICC charged Muammar Gaddafi with two counts of crimes against humanity. The Libyan leader was assassinated months later and his case remains in pretrial.
Two years prior, President of Sudan Omar al-Bashir became the first sitting head of state to be charged by the ICC. the Sudanese leader was charged with five counts of crimes against humanity, murder and genocide.
However, to this day, Bashir remains in custody in Sudan and uncertainty remains on whether Sudan will extradite its former leader.
The ICC’s muddy record of success is, for the most part, the reason why political experts are sceptical about the effectiveness of the court’s arrest warrant against Putin.
According to the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR), since its inception, the ICC has “been unable to gain the support of major powers, including the United States, China, and Russia, who say it undermines national sovereignty.”
Another crucial factor is the fact that since Russia does not recognise the ICC, the court does not have any influence over the country’s judicial interests.
“The court can investigate individuals from nonmember states if the alleged offenses took place in a member state’s territory, if the nonmember state accepts the court’s jurisdiction, or with the Security Council’s authorisation,” the CFR added.
Moscow reacts to ICC arrest warrant
Moscow has since lambasted the ICC’s arrest warrant as a meaningless effort.
In a statement, spokesperson for Russia’s foreign ministry Maria Zakharova blasted the ICC, insisting that “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,” Zakharova added.