The International Court of Justice in The Hague has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian children's rights ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. This was reported on the website of the court.
“Mr. Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born on October 7, 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population (children) and illegal transfer of the population (children) from the occupied territories of Ukraine to the territory of the Russian Federation. The crimes were allegedly committed in the occupied territory of Ukraine since at least February 24, 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr. Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the above crimes, for committing acts directly, jointly with and/or through others, and for his failure to properly supervise the civilian and military subordinates who committed these acts.”
Lvova-Belova is also suspected of the same. At the same time, it is reported that initially the warrants were secret, but they decided to make the information public "to prevent further crimes."
“The Chamber considered that the warrants were classified for the protection of victims and witnesses, as well as to ensure the security of the investigation. However, bearing in mind that the conduct at issue in the present situation is likely to continue and that informing the public of warrants may help prevent further crime, the Chamber considered that it was in the interests of justice to authorize the secretariat to publicly disclose the existence of warrants, the names of suspects, offenses for which warrants have been issued and the manner of liability established by the Chamber."
The arrest warrants were issued based on applications filed by the International Criminal Court Prosecutor's Office on February 22, 2023.