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After more than a year of international outrage at Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and shocking atrocities, there’s an arrest warrant out for Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The International Criminal Court on Friday announced charges against Putin and Russian official Maria Lvova-Belova relating to an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Read CNN’s full report about the charges and the arrest warrant.
And read about the scheme involving Ukrainian children taken to Russia.
Russia rejected the allegations Friday, and a ministry of foreign affairs spokeswoman said the court has “no meaning” in Russia.
There have long been calls for the court to bring charges against Putin. It has been investigating allegations of war crimes in Ukraine since Russia first invaded part of the country in 2014. Those calls intensified with the all-out invasion last year.
Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor, has talked about his efforts and the need to methodically build cases with proof. That said, the likelihood that Russia’s president will ever actually physically see the inside of a courtroom as long as he remains in power in Russia seems beyond slim.
Here’s a very broad look at war crimes and the international justice movement.
Note: Some of what’s below comes from CNN’s research library, which compiled information about the International Criminal Court.
The International Criminal Court has specific definitions for genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of aggression. Read about them in this guide published by the ICC.
Specifically, targeting civilian populations, violating the Geneva…
Read the full article here