Joe Biden has welcomed the worldwide legal court docket’s choice to subject an arrest warrant for the Russian president for conflict crimes in Ukraine.
The US president mentioned Vladimir Putin had clearly dedicated conflict crimes and that the arrest warrant for the Russian chief made a “very robust level”.
“Nicely, I believe it’s justified,” Biden mentioned of the warrant on Friday. “However the query is – [the ICC is] not recognised internationally by us both. However I believe it makes a really robust level.”
The US just isn’t a member of the court docket and the Pentagon has resisted cooperating with it due to fears American troopers could possibly be pursued by the court docket.
The ICC choice, for allegations Putin has overseen the kidnapping of Ukrainian kids, marks the primary time the court docket has issued a warrant towards one of many 5 everlasting members of the UN safety council.
The Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, hailed the court docket’s transfer, saying on social media it was “a historic choice from which historic duty will start”.
The UK international secretary, James Cleverly, mentioned it was important that these on the prime of the regime in Moscow have been held to account for the atrocities which had taken place because the invasion started final yr.
“We welcome the step taken by the impartial ICC to carry these on the prime of the Russian regime, together with Vladimir Putin, to account,” Cleverly mentioned in an announcement posted on social media.
“Work should proceed to analyze the atrocities dedicated.”
The UK’s Labour occasion chief, Sir Keir Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, mentioned the announcement despatched an necessary message: “There’ll no hiding place for Putin and his cronies and the world is set to make them pay for what they’ve completed”.
“These circumstances are simply the tip of the iceberg,” he mentioned. “In the future Putin will face justice: till then, the main target of all who consider in Ukraine’s liberty and freedom should proceed to be on guaranteeing her victory.”
Whereas there isn’t any fast prospect of Putin going through arrest, authorized consultants have pointed to the examples of the previous Serbian chief Slobodan Milošević and Liberia’s former president Charles Taylor as worldwide leaders who wound up within the dock in The Hague.
