Russian President Vladimir Putin has been formally accused by the International Criminal Court (ICC) of war crimes and faces an arrest warrant, which the Kremlin considers illegitimate.
ICC president Piotr Hofmanski said in a video statement Friday that an arrest warrant has been issued for Putin for the “alleged war crimes of deportation of children from Ukrainian occupied territories into the Russian Federation.”
International law prohibits occupying powers from transferring civilians from occupied areas to other territories.
Hofmanski said the contents of the warrants would be kept secret to protect the identities of the allegedly abducted children.
“Nevertheless, the judges of the chamber dealing with this case decided to make the existence of the warrants public in the interest of justice and to prevent the commission of future crimes,” he said….