MOSCOW: The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) issuance of an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin was dismissed as “legally meaningless” by the Kremlin.
Russian officials and propaganda channels expressed outrage, while the opposition welcomed the move.
“Russia, like many other countries, does not recognize the authority of this court, and therefore, its verdicts have no legal force,” stated Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin.
As Russia is not a member of the ICC, Maria Zakharova, a spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry, stated that the ICC’s verdicts “have no significance” for the country.
“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligations under it,” she said on Telegram.
Zakharova added that “Russia does not cooperate with this organization, and any attempt to arrest someone based on ICC’s instructions would be legally meaningless to us,” without mentioning Putin by name.
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