You U.S emphasized on Friday (17th) that “there is no doubt” that the Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine and called for those responsible to “be held accountable” after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president, Vladimir Putin.
“The attorney of the ICC he is an independent actor and makes his own decisions based on the evidence presented to him. We support the accountability of perpetrators of war crimes,” White House National Security Council spokeswoman Adrienne Watson said in a statement.
The US has not ratified the Rome Statute that created the ICC and has traditionally opposed many of the ICC’s investigations.
“There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine and we make it clear that those responsible must be held accountable,” added the spokeswoman for the National Security Council.
The ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, identified in his request for Putin’s arrest the deportation to Russia of “at least hundreds of children taken from Ukrainian orphanages and childcare homes”.
The ICC pre-trial chamber also issued a second arrest warrant on the same charge against Russian politician Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Presidential Commissioner for the Rights of the Child.
These arrest warrants are the first of their kind to be issued by the ICC in the context of its investigation into war crimes in Ukraine.
The Russian government considered the arrest warrant “outrageous”, “inadmissible” and “legally invalid”, as Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC.
The US will continue “working with Ukraine to document and preserve evidence” of war crimes, added White House spokesman John Kirby in an interview with “CNN”.
Kirby declined to say whether Washington would arrest and hand over the Russian leader if he goes to the United States or mediate to pressure other countries to do so, saying it was their sovereign decision.
“I’m not going to speculate. Obviously we want to hold any perpetrators accountable. I’m not going to get into hypothetical situations,” he declared.
Kirby pointed out that Russia is weaker now than it was at the start of the Ukrainian invasion on Feb. 24 of last year, “at least militarily.”
“It has lost thousands and thousands of troops and continues to lose every day. It has not achieved any of its strategic objectives,” he commented.
Washington has also made clear that its view that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine is independent of the ICC’s view.
“The United States’ determinations regarding war crimes and atrocities in Ukraine are independent of the ICC’s decisions on the matters that precede it. The prosecutor’s evidence will ultimately be weighed by the Court,” a spokesman for the ICC said. Department of State.
The ICC prosecutor explained to “CNN” that the message sent by the entity is that “no one is above the law” and that “the basic principles of humanity are binding on everyone”. “No one should feel that they can commit genocide or war crimes and crimes against humanity with impunity,” concluded Khan.
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