The president of the ICC Petr Hofmansky stated on the warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin. This means that the president of the Russian Federation will be arrested as soon as he crosses the border of any of the 123 countries which ratified the Rome Statute.
"This means that Putin should be arrested and brought to court outside Russia. And world leaders will think three times before shaking his hand or sitting down at the negotiating table with him," prosecutor general of Ukraine Andriy.
The reason for the arrest is the suspicion of several crimes: illegal deportation (kidnapping) of Ukrainian children to the territory of Russia/forced displacement of people from the territory of Ukraine. The Court considers that the arrest of the president of Russia will serve to stop crimes against the Ukrainian people.
"There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the above crimes," Petr Hofmansky said.
There are also grounds now for the arrest of the presidential commissioner for the rights of the child Maria Lvova-Belova. She is accused of illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia and facilitating the illegal adoption of abducted Ukrainian children by Russian families.
Other leaders may now reconsider their relationship with the Kremlin. For example, Xi Jinping, who plans to visit Putin on the 20th of march.
