The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued a warrant of arrest for Russian President Vladimir Putin over a cocktail of war crimes allegations.
The court alleges he is responsible for war crimes, and has focused its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
The ICC says the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February, 2022 – when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.
This is even as Moscow has denied the allegations and labelled the warrants as “outrageous”.
It is highly unlikely that much will come of the move – the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within its member countries – and Russia is not one of them.
However, it could affect the president in other ways, such as being unable to travel internationally.
In a statement, the ICC said it had reasonable grounds to believe Mr. Putin committed the criminal acts directly, as well as working with others. It also accused him of failing to use his presidential powers to stop children being deported.
Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for the same crimes.
In the past, she has spoken openly of efforts to indoctrinate Ukrainian children taken to Russia.
Last September, Ms Lvova-Belova complained that some children removed from the city of Mariupol “spoke badly about the Russian President, saying awful things and sang the Ukrainian anthem.”
She has also claimed to have adopted a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol.
The ICC said it initially considered keeping the arrest warrants a secret, but decided to make them public in the event that it stopped further crimes from being committed.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan told the BBC: “children can’t be treated as the spoils of war, they can’t be deported
