Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) have issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin over war crime allegations, including his suspected involvement in the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
The crimes were committed in occupied areas of Ukraine at least from 24 February 2022, when the Russian leader launched a so-called special military operation in the neighboring nation, the Hague-based court said in a statement on Friday.
Nevertheless, Moscow has repeatedly rejected allegations of war crimes during the invasion.
Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, is also wanted by the court over similar allegations.
The ICC says it has reasonable grounds to believe Putin committed the unlawful acts directly as well as working with others, adding the president even failed to exercise his rights to stop others involved in the deportation.
Despite the arrest warrants, the court has no powers to arrest suspects and is only able to exercise jurisdiction within countries that are signed up to the agreement that set up the court. Both Putin and Lvova-Belova are unlikely to be extradited as Russia is not a signatory to that agreement.
Meanwhile, Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin called the ICC's move a "historic decision", adding it gave a clear signal that the "Russian regime is criminal".
Russia didn't immediately post a statement following the decision.
The arrest warrants come just a day after an UN-backed inquiry accused the country of committing wide-ranging war crimes in Ukraine following the invasion last year.
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