Russia opens criminal investigation against ICC judges after arrest warrant for Putin

First modification: 03/20/2023 – 19:56

Moscow tries to counterattack the International Criminal Court. The Russian authorities reported this Monday, March 20, that they have opened a criminal investigation against the ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, and the judges of the high court.

The measure is given in response to the arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes in Ukraine, issued by the high court on Friday, March 17.

The Investigative Committee of Moscow indicated that it believes that “there are no grounds for criminal responsibility” of the Russian president and that he is an “innocent” person.

Likewise, the Kremlin entity accuses the court of “preparing an attack against a representative of a foreign State that enjoys international protection, with the aim of complicating international relations.”

However, some diplomats and experts say the Hague-based court does not recognize a president’s immunity in cases involving war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.

The arrest warrant against Putin was issued for being considered the main person responsible for the massive kidnapping of Ukrainian children who during the ongoing war have been transferred to Russia to re-educate them and become Russian citizens.

For this reason, an arrest warrant is also pending against the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the visible face of that Kremlin program and which promotes the adoptions of these minors on local television.

according to a In a report by Yale University and the US State Department’s Conflict Observatory program released last February, at least 6,000 minors have been taken out of Ukraine and detained in a total of 43 camps in Russia.

However, Data from the Ukrainian Government’s National Information Office released earlier this month indicates that the number of children forcibly sent to Russian territory could exceed 16,000 so far.

ICC sources, quoted by the newspaper ‘The New York Times’, indicated that the court is also preparing new arrest warrants related to the attacks by Russian troops on Ukrainian civil infrastructure that for months have left millions of people without access to water, energy and heating, actions considered by the court as another war crime.

The EU agrees to supply ammunition to Ukraine worth 2,000 million of euros

On the other hand, the West increases its commitment to strengthen the defenses of the nation invaded by Russia.

In the last few hours, 17 member countries of the European Union and Norway agreed to invest an additional 2 billion euros for the delivery of 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition.

The supply will be made over 12 months, as detailed by the senior community representative for Foreign Affairs, Josep Borrell.

In this sense, the members of the bloc of 27 countries will set up a technical commission in charge of establishing how the European military industry can increase production and replenish its own reserves, explained the European Defense Agency of the EU.

“The project opens the way for the EU Member States and Norway to move forward on two tracks: a two-year fast-track procedure for 155mm artillery rounds and a seven-year project to procure multiple types of ammunition,” the statement said. agency in a statement.

The signatory countries for the provision of the new aid are Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden and Norway.

The announcement comes as the conflict is escalating, especially in the greater Donbass region in the east of the invaded nation, where Moscow troops backed by the Russian Wagner mercenary group are increasing their drive to seize more Ukrainian territory. . The combats unleash bloody battles that leave numerous human losses in the ranks of the two parties to the conflict.

With Reuters and EFE