Deutsche Welle: The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, over responsibility for war crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine during the war ongoing for over a year.
The court’s accusation centered around the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia. Moscow said the warrant had no legal bearing on the Russian president. ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan said his office identified incidents of deporting “at least hundreds of children” taken from Ukrainian orphanages and children’s care homes. Many of the children are alleged to have been offered for adoption in Russia since. Khan referred to a legal amendment, based on presidential decrees, which essentially facilitated the adoption of the children by Russian families. “My office alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country,” Khan said. “We cannot allow children to be treated as if they are the spoils of war.”