The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued this Friday a arrest warrant against russian presidentVladimir Putin, as “presumed responsible” for the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children and their transfer from occupied areas in Ukraine to Russia, which is a war crime under this court’s treaty, the Rome Statute.

The ICC pre-trial chamber also issued a second arrest warrant against Russian politics Maria Lvova-Belova, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights in Russia, with the same accusation.

Both arrest warrants are the first of their kind issued by the ICC in the context of its war crimes investigation in Ukraine.

“Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, born October 7, 1952, President of the Russian Federation, is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from the occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia”, indicates the indictment that argues the issuance of the arrest warrant.

The crimes of which you are charged occurred at least from February 24, 2022 in the “occupied territory of Ukraine”, said the ICC, which considers that there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that Putin has “individual criminal responsibility” for the war crime that involves the deportation of minors.

Putin’s individual responsibility, as head of state and chief executivecould be translated either as “having committed the acts directly, together with others or through others”, or by “failing to exercise adequate control over his civilian or military subordinates who committed the acts or allowed their commission and were under his control and effective authority”, as explained in article 28 of the founding treaty of the ICC.

As regards Lvova-Belova (1984), the ICC considers that it has “individual criminal responsibility” for the same type of war crime after “having committed the acts directly, together with others and/or through others” since February 24 last year, the date the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan asked the tribunel authorization to issue these two arrest warrantsn on February 22, as reported by the ICC today.

The Court also details that these orders are usually secret to protect victimswitnesses and the ongoing investigation into Ukraine, but agreed to make the names of the suspects public because “the conduct addressed in the present situation allegedly continues” and making this information public could contribute to the prevention of further crimes.

Russia has not ratified the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC, so it is not a member of this courtNeither is Ukraine, but kyiv has authorized the Court to investigate the commission of war crimes during the Russian invasion.

Russia called Putin’s arrest warrant “legally null and void”. “Possible arrest ‘prescriptions’ that come out of the International Court will be legally null and void for us,” Maria Zakharov, a Russian foreign spokeswoman, wrote on her Telegram channel.