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Russia's top investigative body has said it had opened a criminal case against the International Criminal Court prosecutor and judges who issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges.
Key points:
- The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia
- The move by the ICC obliges the court's 123 member states to arrest Mr Putin if he sets foot on their territory
- Ukraine says more than 16,000 children have been illegally moved to Russia or Russian-occupied territories
The move was a symbolic gesture of defiance, three days after the ICC accused Mr Putin and his children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.
The state Investigative Committee said there were no grounds for criminal liability on Mr Putin's part, and heads of state enjoyed absolute immunity under a 1973 UN convention.
The ICC prosecutor's actions showed signs of being crimes under Russian law, the committee said, including knowingly accusing an innocent person of a crime.
The prosecutor and judges were also suspected of "preparing an attack on a representative of a foreign state enjoying international protection, in order to complicate international relations".
The Kremlin has called the issuing of the warrant outrageous but legally void, as Russia is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC.
On Monday it said the court's move was a sign of the "clear hostility" that exists against Russia and against Mr Putin personally.
The ICC officials targeted in the Russian investigation are prosecutor Karim Khan and judges Tomoko Akane, Rosario Salvatore Aitala and Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez.
"The criminal prosecution is obviously illegal, since there are no grounds for criminal liability," the Russian statement said.
The ICC's move obliges the court's 123 member states to arrest Mr Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory.
Mr Putin is unlikely to take that risk and Russia does not extradite its citizens, but the rare move against a serving president was an important symbolic step to pin responsibility on him for the consequences of his invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine says more than 16,000 children have been illegally transferred to Russia or Russian-occupied territories since the war started nearly 13 months ago.
Arrest warrant a 'sombre' occasion
Mr Khan, the ICC's chief prosecutor, said the organisation had to take action against Mr Putin but the move was a "sombre" one and not a moment for backslapping.
"It's a moment … not for triumphalism, not for any backslapping," Mr Khan told international justice ministers meeting in London to discuss scaling up support for the ICC.
"It is really a very sad occasion and a very sombre occasion, that for the first time ever, judges of the International Criminal Court, of any court, have felt it necessary to issue warrants against a leader and senior state officials from a permanent member of the (UN) Security Council."
Russia has not concealed the programme under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone.
"I say repatriate the children, return the children, reunite the children," Mr Khan said.
"If there is any semblance of truth to the utterances that this is for the sake of children, instead of giving them a foreign passport, return them to the countries of their nationality."
Ukraine's Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin told the meeting his office had launched investigations into more than 72,000 incidents of alleged war crimes and would soon sign an agreement to establish an ICC field office in Ukraine.
"Getting a suspect into the dock of the ICC could be a challenge," Mr Kostin said.
"Therefore, now the burden is on states to closely cooperate with the court."
Chinese President Xi Jinping flew into Moscow on Monday, the first national leader to shake Mr Putin's hand since the warrant was issued, with Beijing saying the warrant reflected double standards on the ICC's behalf.
"It's not ICC on our side or Ukraine's side … but it's the rule of law on our side," Ukraine's minister of justice Denys Maliuska said.
Britain has pledged 1 million pounds ($1.82 million) to the ICC this year and the justice ministry said other countries were expected to pledge financial support during the conference, which is being co-hosted by Britain and the Netherlands.
The funding will go towards training for investigators to examine alleged war crimes, as well as psychological and practical support for victims, the ministry said.
Reuters