Russia reacts to German stance on Putin’s ‘arrest warrant’ — RT Russia and the former Soviet Union
Moscow’s top investigative authority ‘will give legal assessment’ of justice minister’s willingness to comply with ICC order
The Russian investigative committee will look into allegations by a senior German official, who said Berlin would enforce the International Criminal Court’s “arrest warrant” against President Vladimir Putin if he enters Germany.
In a statement released on Sunday, the committee said its chairman, Aleksandr Bastrykin, had given instructions to “to give a required legal assessment of the statements of the German Minister of Justice regarding the arrest of Russian citizens”, while describing the requirements of the ICC as “illegal.”
Russian Ambassador to Germany Sergey Nechayev stated Berlin’s position on ICC mandate “gives extreme concern” and serves as further evidence of Germany’s desire to escalate.
On Friday, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights, saying the two were involved in the “illegal deportation” children “From occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov noted that the court is not recognized in Russia, which means the warrants are “null and void from a legal point of view.”
However, German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann called the ICC’s mandate “significant signal of determination” declaring that Berlin would be obliged to apprehend the Russian president and hand him over to court if he entered Germany.
The ICC decision was, unsurprisingly, welcomed by Ukraine, while US President Joe Biden called it a “justified” despite the fact that neither Washington nor Moscow recognizes the Court’s jurisdiction. The Russian Embassy in the United States has suggested that Biden’s stance on the issue appears schizophrenic.
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