The Pentagon is opposed to the White House handing over to the International Criminal Court in The Hague evidence of Russian war crimes in Ukraine, collected by US intelligence agencies. The New York Times writes about this, citing officials familiar with the case.
According to them, the Pentagon is afraid of setting a precedent that could help the court hold the Americans themselves accountable. The rest of the US authorities, including intelligence agencies and the State Department, are in favor of transferring evidence to court. According to NYT sources, they include materials about Russian orders to attack the civilian infrastructure of Ukraine, as well as about the abductions of Ukrainian children from the occupied territories.
The United States recognized the powers of the Hague Tribunal only towards the end of the reign of George W. Bush. He said that he "enjoys broad international support", and later Barack Obama offered a reward for the capture of fugitive warlords in Africa who were indicted by the court. However, when Donald Trump assumed the presidency of the United States, he imposed sanctions against court employees. This was in response to an investigation into the torture of captured militants during the Bush administration. In 2021, the Biden administration lifted those sanctions and the court dropped the investigation.
