The International Criminal Court plans to seek the arrest of Russian officials for “forced deportation” of children from Ukraine and attacks on “civilian infrastructure.” This, according to Kommersant, is reported by Reuters sources.
If this happens, it will be the first cases of international war crimes related to the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the newspaper adds.
In turn, The New York Times writes that the ICC intends to initiate two war crimes cases and will request arrest warrants for several people.
The article said ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan must first present his charges to a panel of pre-trial judges, who will decide whether the legal standards for issuing arrest warrants have been met or if investigators need more evidence. It also remains unclear who the court plans to indict in each case.
For its part, a Reuters source indicated that the arrest warrants could include genocide charges, and they could be issued in the “short term.”
Meanwhile, the Russian side denies allegations of attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine, and the children, according to the Russian Federation, are being transported as part of a humanitarian campaign, Kommersant writes.
Note also that Russia is not a member of the ICC. This spring, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova stressed that the Russian Federation is not obliged to cooperate with the body, but will monitor its actions. Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov previously rejected the words of the chief prosecutor of the ICC in The Hague about the alleged weighty grounds for a case against Russia in connection with the situation in Ukraine.
Source: Rosbalt
Mario Twitchell is an accomplished author and journalist, known for his insightful and thought-provoking writing on a wide range of topics including general and opinion. He currently works as a writer at 247 news agency, where he has established himself as a respected voice in the industry.
