The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the country’s children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, over allegations that Ukrainian children have been deported from occupied territories to Russia, which could constitute a potential war crime.
The existence of the warrants was made public in the interest of justice and in a bid to deter future crimes, ICC President Piotr Hofmanski said in an announcement on Friday, but the details of the allegations remain under seal to protect the victims. Although individual Russian soldiers have been found guilty of war crimes in Ukrainian courts, the warrants represent the first international charges to be brought against senior Russian officials since its invasion of Ukraine last February.
