Russia Says Attempts to Arrest Putin Under ICC Warrant Amount to ‘Declaration Of War’
International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Russian president will lead to 'collapse of international law,' says deputy head of Russia's Security Council
A senior Russian official said on Thursday that an attempt to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin under the International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant would amount to “declaring a war.”
Remarks by Dmitry Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, came after the ICC issued Friday an arrest warrant for Putin over alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Speaking during an interview to users of Russian social networking service VK, Medvedev questioned competence of German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann, who earlier said if Putin arrived in Germany, he would be arrested.
“He is a lawyer, isn’t he? Does he understand what this means? It is clear that this is a situation that will never happen, but nevertheless, let’s imagine that it happened. The current head of a nuclear state came to the territory of, say, Germany, and was arrested.
“What is it? It is a declaration of war to the Russian Federation. And already in this case, all our rockets and other weapons will fly to Bundestag (German parliament), to the chancellor’s office, and so on. Does he understand that this is a casus belli (cause of war), that this is a declaration of war, or did he study poorly?” Medvedev said.
In a separate statement on Telegram, Medvedev called issuing a warrant for Putin’s arrest “collapse of the international law.”
The biggest states, he said, did not join the ICC, and over the course of its existence, the court prosecuted “three dozens of unknown individuals.”
“Sudan’s president spat on these (ICC) accusations and despite the military coup at home, he is not available for ‘justice.’ The rest are not worth mentioning at all. In other words, the effectiveness of its (ICC) activities is zero,” Medvedev said.
A state and its leaders may be brought to a court only when a country almost lost its sovereignty or lost a war and capitulated, he argued.
The Russian official believes that the warrant was issued at Washington’s request and that the consequences will be that no one will go to international courts.
Medvedev added that the US “killed the already almost zero credibility of the court” when Washington made it stop investigating American “crimes” committed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
“The gloomy sunset of the entire system of international relations is coming. Trust is exhausted,” Medevedev said.
He also said “it is quite possible” to imagine a strike of a hypersonic carrier over the North Sea from a Russian ship to the Hague courthouse.
“The court is just a wretched international organization, not the population of a NATO country. Therefore, they will not start a war. They’ll be afraid. And no one will regret it. So, citizens of the judge, look carefully at the sky,” he threatened.
