DISINFO: ICC: Putin's arrest warrant is a cheap trick to mess with Moscow
SUMMARY
The US authorities once called the International Criminal Court in The Hague "virtually dead." However, the other day it showed signs of life by issuing a warrant for the arrest of the President of Russia. For the West, this was a low-cost way to play tricks on Moscow and please Zelenskyy.
RESPONSE
A new pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative following the decision communicated on 17 March 2023 by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin for the war crime of unlawful deportation of the population from Ukraine to Russia during the war in Ukraine. The narrative tries to paint the ICC’s decision as a manifestation of Russophobia, a senseless action against Russia to satisfy the Ukrainians.
The ICC, the world's permanent war crimes court was created by the Rome Statute, a treaty ratified by all the EU states, as well as Australia, Brazil, Britain, Canada, Japan, Mexico, Switzerland, 33 African countries and 19 nations in the South Pacific. Russia is not a member and neither are China, the United States or India.
Russia signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but withdrew its backing in 2016, after the ICC classified Moscow's annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea Peninsula as an armed conflict.
As a result of the ICC's decision, 123 member states are obliged to detain and transfer Putin if he sets foot on their territory, significantly limiting his ability to travel abroad. Diplomatic immunity would not protect him against this.
Putin is just the third head of state to be indicted by the International Criminal Court while still in power.
Russian disinformation media are trying to reduce the UN-sponsored institution of the ICC, which employs 18 judges, to a meaningless organisation. The Russian Foreign Ministry called any decisions of the ICC “insignificant from the point of view of law”, and the Kremlin specifies that Moscow does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitri Medvedev threatened the court with a hypersonic missile.
As the crimes are committed on the territory of Ukraine is does not matter for the legal case if Russia recognise the ICC or not.
See more about whataboutism.
Read more about the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.
See more cases on the ICC arrest warrant on Putin here.