Germany will arrest Vladimir Putin at the request of the International Criminal Court (ICC) if the Russian president is on the territory of Germany, the country’s Justice Minister Marco Buschman told the Bild am Sonntag newspaper.
“I expect the ICC to quickly go to INTERPOL as well as to participating States and ask them to enforce[the arrest warrant]. Then Germany will be obliged to arrest President Putin if he enters German territory and hand him over to the ICC,” said the head of the German Justice Ministry.
As noted by Die Zeit, all countries subject to its jurisdiction must act in accordance with the ICC ruling.
On March 17, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin. He is suspected of illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. A similar arrest warrant was issued against Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights.
The Kremlin, in response to the decision of the ICC, recalled that Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court. The Russian Foreign Ministry said the order “doesn’t matter” to Russia. Putin himself did not comment on the court’s decision.
