WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Wednesday urged all members of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to comply with an arrest warrant issued by the court against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Last week, the court charged Putin with the war crime of illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine. The measure will oblige the court’s 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he steps on their territory.
“I think anyone who sits on the court and has obligations should fulfill their obligations,” Blinken said when asked by Senator Lindsey Graham at a US Senate Appropriations Committee hearing if he would encourage European allies to “hand over” Putin. .
Although the United States is not a party to the ICC, US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Putin had clearly committed war crimes, adding that the ICC warrant was justified.
Russia has repeatedly denied allegations that its forces committed atrocities during the year-long invasion of its neighbor and the Kremlin has called the court’s ruling “null and void”.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, although Kiev has given the court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory. The court does not have its own police force and relies on member states to make arrests.
(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk, Patricia Zengerle and Simon Lewis)
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