The Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has issued arrest warrants for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian presidential commissioner for children's rights Maria Lvova-Belova.
A statement published on the court's website said that these individuals were allegedly responsible for "illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children)" from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
Commenting on this statement, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said: "The decisions of the International Criminal Court do not have any significance for our country, including from the legal point of view". She explained that Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
One must know what the International Criminal Court in The Hague is. It should not be confused with the UN Hague International Court of Justice.
The ICC operates on the basis of the so-called Rome Statute. Not only Russia, China, India, Israel, Iran and a number of other states, but also ... the United States do not recognize the jurisdiction of the court today. The Bush Jr. administration refused to participate in the Rome Statute, calling this association "violating the national interests and sovereignty of the United States". Moreover, the United States even entered into agreements with a number of states obliging them not to extradite US citizens to the ICC, or else the United States threatened to cut off all support for violators.