Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued warrants for the arrest of two individuals linked to the conflict in Ukraine. They are the president of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation.

The court claims that Putin (born on 7 October 1952) is responsible for the war crime under Articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

“The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022,” said an ICC statement. “There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (Article 28(b) of the Rome Statute),” the statement said.

Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova (born on 25 October 1984), the commissioner for children’s rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation, 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 (under Articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute).

“The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Ms Lvova-Belova bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (Article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute).

“Pre-Trial Chamber II considered, based on the prosecution’s applications of 22 February 2023, that there are 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,” the ICC said in its statement.

“The Chamber considered that the warrants are secret in order to protect victims and witnesses and also to safeguard the investigation.

“Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber.

“The abovementioned warrants of arrests were issued pursuant to the applications submitted by the Prosecution on 22 February 2023,” the ICC statement read.

The ICC prosecutor, Karim A A Khan KC, on the issuance of arrest warrants against President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, noted: “On the basis of evidence collected and analysed by his Office pursuant to its independent investigations, the Pre-Trial Chamber has confirmed that there are reasonable grounds to believe that President Putin and Ms Lvova-Belova bear criminal responsibility for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, contrary to Article 8(2)(a)(vii) and Article 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute.

“Incidents identified by my Office include the deportation of at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes. Many of these children, we allege, have since been given for adoption in the Russian Federation.

“The law was changed in the Russian Federation, through presidential decrees issued by President Putin, to expedite the conferral of Russian citizenship, making it easier for them to be adopted by Russian families.

“My office alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country. At the time of these deportations, the Ukrainian children were protected persons under the Fourth Geneva Convention,” Karim Khan KC said.

“We also underlined in our application that most acts in this pattern of deportations were carried out in the context of the acts of aggression committed by Russian military forces against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine which began in 2014,” he added.

ICC arrest warrants in the situation of Ukraine: a statement by President Piotr Hofmański

Reporting by Wilberforce Asare in Accra

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