U.S. President Joe Biden says 'it's justified,' after International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin for alleged unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
- Mar 18, 2023
AceShowbiz - Joe Biden has reacted to ICC's arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin. Supporting the move, the U.S. President said that "it's justified" that Putin is wanted by International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
"Well, I think it's justified, but the question is it's not recognized internationally by us either," Biden told reporters before departing the White House for a weekend trip to Delaware on Friday, March 17. He noted that the U.S. is not signed up to the ICC, "but I think it makes a very strong point."
When asked whether he thought Putin should be tried for war crimes related to his bloody invasion of Ukraine, the president did not answer directly but said it was clear the Russian leader did commit war crimes. "He's clearly committed war crimes," he stated.
The Hague issued a warrant for Russian leader Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, on suspicion of unlawful abduction and deportation of children, and the illegal transfer of people from Ukraine to Russia.
The ICC said in a statement on Friday that Putin and Lvova-Belova are "allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."
"There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes," the Netherlands-based court said.
The warrant was issued following a year-long investigation by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan into war crimes and genocide committed by Russian forces in the former Soviet state. It's the ICC's first warrant related to the Kremlin's war in Ukraine.
Khan told BBC, "Children can't be treated as the spoils of war, they can't be deported." The ICC prosecutor added, "This type of crime doesn't need one to be a lawyer, one needs to be human being to know how egregious it is."
However, it is highly unlikely that Putin and Lvova-Belova will be facing trial at the ICC. Russia is not a signed member of the ICC and does not recognize the court's jurisdiction or extradite its nationals.
