Pictured: Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan (centre) speaking during the Justice Ministers' conference at Lancaster House, London, in support of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the investigation into the situation in Ukraine. Picture date: Monday March 20, 2023

Russia has issued an arrest warrant for the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor in a tit-for-tat move after the court called for President Vladimir Putin’s arrest on war crimes charges in March. 

British prosecutor Karim Khan, 53, was added to the Interior Ministry’s wanted list, Russian media reported on Friday, citing the ministry’s database.

Moscow opened cases against Khan and three ICC judges on March 20.

The ICC warrant, issued on March 17, orders the arrest of Putin and Russia’s ombudsman for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, 38, for war crimes charges relating to the abduction of Ukrainian children.

Russia and Putin deny any war crimes during the invasion of Ukraine, saying they are victims of Western aggression and lies. 

Pictured: Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan (centre) speaking during the Justice Ministers' conference at Lancaster House, London, in support of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the investigation into the situation in Ukraine. Picture date: Monday March 20, 2023

Pictured: Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court Karim Khan (centre) speaking during the Justice Ministers’ conference at Lancaster House, London, in support of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the investigation into the situation in Ukraine. Picture date: Monday March 20, 2023

Khan’s picture could be seen in the Russian interior ministry’s database on Friday.

The notice described him as a man born on March 30, 1970 in Edinburgh, Scotland, but did not specify his offence.

Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said in March that Khan was being probed for the ‘criminal prosecution of a person known to be innocent’. 

He was also being investigated for allegedly preparing ‘an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection,’ investigators said.

Kyiv says more than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been deported to Russia since the beginning of Moscow’s offensive in February last year, with many allegedly placed in institutions and foster homes.

Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has said the warrant is ‘void’.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has hailed the court’s move as a ‘historic decision from which historic responsibility will begin’. 

US President Joe Biden said the arrest warrant for Putin was ‘justified’.

Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 9, 2022

Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin meets with Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova at the Kremlin in Moscow on March 9, 2022

The ICC called for Putin’s arrest on March 17 and accused the despot of committing war crimes by abducting Ukrainian children from their homes and deporting them to Russia to be given to Russian families.

It also issued a warrant that day for the arrest of Lvova-Belova on the same charges. 

Lvova-Belova had claimed to be the ‘saviour’ of children from Ukraine caught up in Russia’s ‘special military operation’.

In a video from February, Putin was seen approving Lvova-Belova’s personal adoption of a child from Mariupol, a city that has seen some of the most brutal fighting of the war in Ukraine. 

The Kremlin immediately slammed the court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Putin ‘outrageous and unacceptable’. 

In contrast, Ukraine hailed the decision and said ‘the wheels of justice are turning’.

The Kremlin insisted that any decisions of the ICC were ‘null and void’ with respect to Russia as Moscow does not recognise the court’s jurisdiction. 

Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was the lead prosecutor at former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic’s trial, said it was ‘extremely important’ that the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin.

He suggested that Putin being ‘labelled and treated as a criminal’ could inspire a change in regime or ‘encourage the process of replacement’. 

Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Council on Interethnic Relations in Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Krai region, Russia, 19 May 2023

Pictured: Russian President Vladimir Putin attends a meeting of the Council on Interethnic Relations in Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Krai region, Russia, 19 May 2023

‘There’s enough information seeping out to indicate that there are some unhappy with his leadership,’ Sir Geoffrey told Sky News on March 17.

‘It’s important because this man is now – as many would say he should have been a few weeks after the war started – labelled as a criminal.’

Sir Geoffrey added that the war in Ukraine is now a ‘right, just war’ that is being ‘criminally led’. 

Alexander Bastrykin, the head of Russia’s Investigative Committee, reacted to the ICC’s decision by proposing to create an ‘international court’ for ‘Ukrainian war criminals’ – following similar comments from Putin’s cronies on state television.

Khan said hundreds of Ukrainian children have been taken from orphanages and children’s homes to Russia.

He said: ‘Many of these children, we allege, have since been given up for adoption in the Russian Federation.’

Khan said a Russian law change has made it easier for the children to be adopted by Russian families, while at the time of the deportations, Ukrainian children were protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention.

In his statement, he called the arrest warrants ‘a first concrete step’ while other Ukraine investigations are ongoing.

Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut, an eastern city where fierce battles against Russian forces have been taking place, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2023

Pictured: Ukrainian soldiers fire a cannon near Bakhmut, an eastern city where fierce battles against Russian forces have been taking place, in the Donetsk region, Ukraine, on May 12, 2023

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen look on after a fight, as Russia's attack on Ukraine continues, near the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 11, 2023

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen look on after a fight, as Russia’s attack on Ukraine continues, near the front line city of Bakhmut, in Donetsk region, Ukraine May 11, 2023

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly also welcomed the ICC’s decision, adding that investigations into alleged atrocities in Ukraine must continue.

‘We welcome the step taken by the independent ICC to hold those at the top of the Russian regime, including Vladimir Putin, to account,’ Cleverly tweeted, adding ‘those responsible for horrific war crimes in Ukraine must be brought to justice’.

But the ICC’s President, Piotr Hofmanski, admitted that while the court’s judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to enforce warrants.

‘The ICC is doing its part of work as a court of law. The judges issued arrest warrants. The execution depends on international cooperation,’ Hofmanski said.

Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev compared the arrest warrant for Putin to toilet paper.

‘The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin. No need to explain WHERE this paper should be used,’ Medvedev said on Twitter, adding a toilet paper emoji.

In contrast, Ukrainian officials were jubilant at the decision. 

A satellite image provided by MaxarTechnologies shows demolished bakhmut school and smoldering- partment buildings in Bakhmut, Ukraine, Monday, May 15, 2023

A satellite image provided by MaxarTechnologies shows demolished bakhmut school and smoldering- partment buildings in Bakhmut, Ukraine, Monday, May 15, 2023

‘The world changed,’ said presidential adviser Mykhailo Podolyak. Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said the ‘wheels of justice are turning’ and added that ‘international criminals will be held accountable for stealing children and other international crimes’.

Ukraine is also not a member of the court, but it has granted the ICC jurisdiction over its territory and Khan has visited four times since opening an investigation a year ago.

The ICC said in a statement that Putin is allegedly ‘responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation’. 

The court added that its pre-trial chamber found there were ‘reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children’. 

Putin was allegedly responsible both directly by committing the acts and for ‘failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission’, the court said.

The ICC said the crimes dated from February 24 last year, when Putin ordered his troops to invade Ukraine.

Since Putin launched the invasion, Russians have been accused of deporting Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories to raise them as their own.

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen from the 24th Mechanized Brigade 'King Danylo' fire a BM-21 'Grad' multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) in the direction of the frontline city of Bakhmut, at an undisclosed location, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on May 19, 2023

Pictured: Ukrainian servicemen from the 24th Mechanized Brigade ‘King Danylo’ fire a BM-21 ‘Grad’ multiple rocket launcher system (MLRS) in the direction of the frontline city of Bakhmut, at an undisclosed location, Donetsk region, eastern Ukraine, on May 19, 2023

At least 1,000 children were seized from schools and orphanages in the Kherson region during Russia’s eight-month occupation of the area, local authorities say. Their whereabouts are still unknown.

In response to the ICC issuing Lvova-Belova an arrest warrant for war crimes, the children’s commissioner said in a bizarre statement: ‘It’s great that the international community has appreciated the work to help the children of our country.’ 

Russia claims that the Ukrainian children don’t have parents or guardians to look after them, or that they can’t be reached.

However, it has emerged that officials have deported Ukrainian children to Russia or Russian-held territories without consent, lied to them that they weren’t wanted by their parents, used them for propaganda, and given them Russian families and citizenship. 

On Friday, Medvedev, who is now deputy chairman of the Kremlin’s Security Council, said that more than 100,000 people have enlisted in the Russian army this year, as Moscow seeks to recruit volunteers for its offensive in Ukraine.

Moscow has conducted an aggressive military recruitment campaign in recent months as Kyiv gears up for an offensive after months of stalemate in eastern Ukraine.

‘Between January 1 and May 19, 117,400 people have been accepted into the ranks of the armed forces on a contractual basis and as part of our voluntary formations,’ Medvedev said.

Mededev said Russian officials were continuing to recruit soldiers on contract.

In September, Putin announced a ‘partial’ military mobilisation – Russia’s first since World War II – sending shock waves across the country and prompting tens of thousands to flee.

Officials said on Friday that Zelensky will attend the G7 summit in Japan on Sunday in person, as Rishi Sunak and allies seek to turn up the pressure on Russia.

It will potentially bring Zelensky into contact with India’s Narendra Modi and Brazil’s Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who have not opposed the invasion like their western allies.

Zelensky has met many western politicians recently, including Sunak at Chequers on Monday.

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