International Criminal Court issues warrant for Putin

By DaQuan Lawrence, Special to the AFRO The International Criminal Court (ICC) said March 17 that it has issued arrest warrants for Russian Federation President Vladimir Putin and the Russian Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova for their alleged involvement in the abductions of children from Ukraine.  [Putin] “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of (children) and that of unlawful transfer of (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation” said an ICC spokesperson. The charges brought against Putin marks the first time the international court has issued a warrant against the head of state one of the U.N. Security Council’s permanent five members. Russian officials have adamantly refuted the claims, with the former leader of Russia Dmitry Medvedev calling the charges “akin to toilet paper.” Medvedev has served as the deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia since 2020.  Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the court’s move “outrageous and unacceptable,” upholding that Russia doesn’t recognize the ICC and considers its decisions “legally void,” according to The AP. According to the ICC’s pre-trial chamber, Putin “bears individual criminal responsibility” for child abductions, “for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through...