ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin

Moments ago. We just learned that the ICC, the International Criminal Court, has issued an

arrest

warrant

for Vladimir Putin. And another Russian official. The two are at the center of an alleged plot to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia. This is a topic we've been talking about a lot on the show. Let me return to Ivan Watson. He's back here. He'll join me now with more information on this. Ivan, what are you hearing about this? Well, I mean, the headline here is that the International Criminal Court has issued an

arrest

warrant

for the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.

They also issued an arrest warrant for a second Russian official whose name I don't think people recognize. Her name is Maria Vova, Bulova and she is the Commissioner for Children's Rights in the office of the President of the Russian Federation. In this statement, the ICC basically accuses them both of being complicit in the kidnapping, the alleged abduction of Ukrainian children from a territory of Ukraine occupied by the Russian army and their transfer to Russian territory. Now, Russia has been very public in saying that it has taken Russian Ukrainian children to Russia, basically exaggerated the adoption of some of these children.

And they basically claim that they are rescuing these children. The ICC clearly sees this very differently, says this is illegal, what it is doing, and I think it has taken an unprecedented step by issuing, again, an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin himself, against one of his senior officials. , accusing him of kidnapping Ukrainian children basically since the start of the Russian invasion of Ukraine last year. But Ivan and Ivan, I had the former special ambassador for war crimes

issues

, Stephen Rapp, earlier this week. And this is one of the topics we were talking about and he said he was right in Lviv talking to a child who was able to be returned from Russia only because his family member did everything possible to try to find him after they say this supposedly happened to him. to this child.

And the thing is, right now it's quite difficult to even know the extent of how many children have been kidnapped, abducted and taken to Russia. The United States has put the number somewhere, saying it is at least 6,000. But I have heard Ukrainian officials put it above 16,000. Yes. And this is part of the terrible and bloody fog of war. I mean, there are entire cities that had populations of hundreds of thousands of people that have been torn apart, reduced to rubble, orphaned children, and probably still have bodies found for some of these million victims as a result of this catastrophic invasion.

So one of the most notable things, I don't know, that happens behind the scenes as the two armies kill each other on the front day after day, is that there are troops processing. There are investigators on the ground who are also gathering information as the battles unfold and trying to build cases basically against the Russian military for alleged war crimes on the ground here, the alleged kidnapping of thousands of Ukrainian children. This is only part of it. It is the one on which the ICC has focused the most. So I guess you see that there is a kind of cut and dry international law that is being violated here with the movement of young people, of minors across international borders.

Without parental permission. I can also anticipate some of the response that will come from the Kremlin. Most likely, they deny that the ICC has any jurisdiction over the Russian government, over Vladimir Putin. And it's not just them. I mean, I can remember the Trump administration saying publicly that the ICC has no jurisdiction over the US government. So it's a powerful statement. It's a bold statement. The issuance of this arrest warrant will likely have little effect on Putin's own day-to-day behavior and policies. However, it is a strong message to Russia and to the Russian military that people are watching his behavior on the ground.

This is just a very high profile case that has just been announced. Yesterday I was meeting here with a Ukrainian police officer in charge of hundreds of investigators. And he says most of his job right now is gathering information about alleged Russian war crimes on the ground here. You hear air raid sirens over my shoulder every time the Russian military fires rockets, cruise missiles and artillery at Ukrainian towns and cities. Investigators arrive shortly after to document that and prepare cases against the Russian military for alleged war crimes, Kate. Ivan, stay with me. If you could, because David McKenzie is in kyiv.

He joins us now with more perspective. And David, what else can you tell us about this same topic? Ivan explained it very well, but the kidnapping and deportation of children out of Ukraine, I have heard reports of some as young as four months. Well, it is certainly an extremely significant moment in which a sitting head of state, particularly Vladimir Putin, whose countries in the permanent Security Council are receiving an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court. It is very rare for a head of state to face this type of court order and even if, as Ivan says, in the short term it is symbolic, it is enormously symbolic.

And this case concerns the thousands of children who were allegedly separated from or forced to separate from their parents, taken from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine to what investigators and the ICC call re-education camps. Now, we have talked to children and parents, just a few weeks ago they told us the story of parents who went to Crimea and rescued their children from these types of re-education camps. The most serious accusation concerns orphans who were taken from state facilities and brought to Russia, given to Russian parents. Now, although Vladimir Putin and the head of his group that is involved with children's rights have been named in this arrest warrant, they will say and have said repeatedly that this is a matter of them protecting children, something that really it does not work. with the facts.

When you look at these children who go to these camps and are taught in Russia and are forced to sing the Russian national anthem, forcibly separated from their parents, those parents are often and still are separated from those children. So this is a very important symbolic moment, just one case of many that have been examined to accuse Russian officials, the president and his military of war crimes.