How CAN Putin be arrested for war crimes? Unlikely circumstances that could see ... trends now
The International Criminal Court has issued a warrant for the arrest of Vladimir Putin amid accusations of war crimes during his faltering invasion of Ukraine.
Karim Khan, the ICC's chief prosecutor, today said hundreds of children have been unlawfully taken from orphanages and children's homes in occupied areas of Ukraine and transported to Russia to be given to new families.
Putin has become only the third serving president to have been issued an ICC arrest warrant, after Sudan's Omar al-Bashir and Libya's Muammar Gaddafi, and the first leader of one of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council.
The ICC's warrant now obligates its 123 member states to arrest the Russian president and transfer him to The Hague for trial should he set foot on their territory.
But the Kremlin today slammed the court's decision as 'outrageous and unacceptable', instead insisting any decisions of the ICC are 'null and void' with respect to Russia as Moscow does not recognise the court's jurisdiction.
Putin has become only the third serving president to have been issued an ICC arrest warrant
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan stands next to a grave where remains of three bodies were found, in the town of Bucha, outside Kyiv, in April last year
A volunteer places a cross with a number to a grave of one of unidentified people killed by Russian troops in Bucha
Its stance inevitably casts doubts over how Putin can be arrested, with the possibility of a trial remaining a long way off.
Moscow does not recognise the court's jurisdiction and does not extradite its nationals - a position reaffirmed on Friday by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in a first reaction to the warrants.
'The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,' she said.
Even the ICC's president Piotr Hofmanski admitted that while the court's judges have issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them.
Under the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, the court has no police force of its own to enforce warrants.
What's more, the Statute - from which the ICC draws its authority - precludes trials being held in absentia, meaning Putin would have to be tried in person.
But while the likelihood of Putin's arrest remains highly unlikely, it is not entirely impossible.
Systematic reminders of the ICC's arrest warrants are sent to member countries when a suspect travels abroad.
If a country fails to comply with a request to cooperate, it may be referred to the court itself.
Putin will not be arrested in or extradited from Russian territory, but has made trips abroad since the outbreak of the war in February last year.
In June, he travelled to Tajikistan and Turkmenistan before visiting Iran the following month.
The despot also travelled to Uzbekistan in September, Kazakhstan in October and Armenia in November, as well as Kyrgyzstan and Belarus in December.
In the early months of the war, Russian forces were forced to retreat from towns and cities across Ukraine - but as they retreated, the war crimes they have committed against civilians has become clear. Pictured: The bodies of civilians killed by Russian soldiers lie on the street in Bucha on April 2, 2022
The ICC (file image of the International Criminal Court in the Hague) accused Putin of being responsible for war crimes because of his involvement in the abduction of children from Ukraine
Of these countries, only Tajikistan is a member of the ICC and party to the Rome Statute and Putin may avoid entering the country again on that basis.
But while non-members have no obligation under the statute to cooperate with the ICC, they will be encouraged to do so.
Some non-members have even played an active role in previous warrant operations.
If the United Nations Security Council triggers the ICC's jurisdiction over a situation, the country has a duty to cooperate regardless of whether they are a
