Why a warrant for Putin’s arrest may be more than just symbolic
In this edition, the International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin. But since Russia’s war in Ukraine began, how have nations changed their approach to international criminal justice?
Sign up here to receive Fallout in your inbox.
THE STORY
In the end, they decided to hunt the whale. Last week, reports suggested that the International Criminal Court in the Hague was preparing to issue warrants for the arrest of unnamed Russian officials as part of war crimes investigations potentially leading to trials. And while analysts speculated, no one was certain that the ICC would issue a warrant to arrest Vladimir Putin. Then on Friday suspicions were confirmed: Putin is now a fugitive.
The Russian president follows Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi and Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir as the only serving heads of state to have an ICC warrant issued against them. It means that any of the nations that are party to the ICC are obligated to arrest Putin if he sets foot on their territory. In a show of defiance, Putin paid his first visit to Russian-occupied Mariupol. Ukraine described the visit, which took place “under the cover of night” as one that “befits a thief.”