US support of the decision of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin is "reminiscent of sluggish schizophrenia," the Russian Embassy in the United States says.
On Friday, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin as well as Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on the grounds of alleged "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children to Russia. US President Joe Biden said on Friday that the arrest warrant is "justified."
"Allowing unacceptable remarks about the Russian leader, the U.S. authorities deliberately keep silent about their own atrocities in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and Vietnam. Moreover, in an attempt to protect its citizens from international prosecution by all available means, the United States even takes odious measures.
For example, unprecedented economic sanctions that were imposed on the leadership of the Court, including ex-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who initiated an investigation into U.S. atrocities in Afghanistan. What independence and impartiality can we talk about?" the Russian embassy said commenting on the US reaction.
The embassy emphasized that Washington supports the "unprecedented legal bacchanalia" unleashed by the ICC in order to protect its own geopolitical interests, despite the fact that neither the US, nor Russia, recognize the court's jurisdiction.
"Such a position is reminiscent of sluggish schizophrenia. Today, all American officials in unison repeated that the ICC is not a decree for the United States. However, a strategic interest to annoy Russia as much as possible outweighs," the Russian embassy said.
Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the ICC warrants to arrest Putin and Lvova-Belova are legally null and void as Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute and has no obligations under it, nor does it cooperate with the ICC.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has repeatedly stated that Russia is not a party to the ICC and its jurisdiction is not recognized by Moscow, so any of its decisions against the country are null from the legal point of view.
You have no power here: What the ICC ‘arrest warrant’ means for Putin
The Pre-trial Chamber issued an “arrest warrant” for Putin and Lvova-Belova, accusing them of personal and command responsibility for what they described as “unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine.” The accusations appear to be based on the Kiev government’s interpretation of Russian efforts to evacuate civilians away from frontline areas that the Ukrainian military has targeted, often with NATO-supplied weapons.
In legal terms, nothing whatsoever. Though Russia was one of the signatories to the Rome Statute, the ICC’s founding document, it never ratified the treaty and officially withdrew from it in 2016. Whatever the court claims or does is null and void in Russia, both Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov and Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova confirmed on Friday.
While 123 states have signed the Rome Statute, 41 have not – including China, India, Saudi Arabia and Türkiye. Besides Russia, Israel, Sudan and the US have also withdrawn their signatures. The US Congress even passed a law in 2002 prohibiting any cooperation with the court and authorizing “all means necessary and appropriate” to release any American – or national of an allied country – from the Hague, by military force if necessary.
What was the Russian reaction?
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov described the ICC announcement as “outrageous and unacceptable.” Senator Andrey Klishas, from the ruling United Russia party, said the ICC just put itself on the road to self-destruction. Former president and deputy chair of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev compared the “warrant” to toilet paper. Crimean Senator Sergei Tsekov said the ICC decision demonstrates that Western-created institutions have become “worthless and insignificant.” Lvova-Belova sarcastically thanked the “international community” for appreciating her work to help rescue children from the zone of combat operations.
From 2014 to the start of military operation 4,374 residents killed in Donbass — Ombudsman
©Valentin Sprinchak/TASS
Ukraine's aggression in Donbas resulted in the death of 4,374 residents from July 2014 to February 24, 2022, and nearly 8,000 were injured. Such data Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) Daria Morozova cites in her report to the UN Security Council.
"From the beginning of the conflict and as of February 24, 2022, as a result of armed aggression by Ukraine on the territory of the DPR, 4,374 people, including 91 children, have been killed," according to the document published on the Ombudsman’s website on Saturday. "Almost 8,000 civilians received injuries of various degrees of severity, including 323 children, at least 27 of them acquired a disability."
On Friday, the UN Security Council voted on Friday against the speech of the DPR Ombudsman at a meeting on the humanitarian situation in Ukraine. Four countries (Russia, Brazil, Ghana and China) spoke in support of Morozova's speech during the procedural vote, eight (Albania, the UK, Malta, USA, France, Switzerland, Ecuador and Japan) opposed. Three countries (Gabon, Mozambique, UAE) abstained.
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