This week, a senior Kremlin official stated that any attempt to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin would be considered an act of war. It would also warrant a blizzard missile strike.
Dmitry Medvedev (former Russian president) is now the deputy chairman of Russia’s security council. He made this threat several times in response to last week’s International Criminal Court issue of an arrest warrant against Putin for war crimes.
On March 17, the ICC issued warrants for Putin’s arrest and Maria Alekseyevna Lvova–Belova, Russia’s child rights commissioner. Each of them is suspected to be guilty of a war crime, which involved the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
Karim Khan, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, suggested that these acts “demonstrate a desire to permanently remove these kids from their own country.”
One hundred twenty-three nations have signed the Rome Statute. They are legally bound to apply the decisions of the ICC based in the Hague, the Netherlands.
The ICC does not include the U.S., China, and India as 123 members.
The U.S. is not a party to the Rome Statute and has a Bush-era law that authorizes the use of military force in order to free any American citizen or citizen of an allied country held by the Hague.
Ireland, one of the countries obliged to enforce this warrant, confirmed that it would arrest the Russian President in the unlikely event that he steps foot on the island. Canada and Germany also welcomed the ICC decision.
However, not all signatories will honor the warrant. Although his country signed the statute in 1999 by his nation, Gergely Gulyas, Hungarian Cabinet Minister, stated that the warrant is not binding for his country.
Nearly one year has passed since the U.S. Senate unanimously condemned Putin as a war crime.
Reuters reported that Sen. Lindsey Graham (R.S.C.) introduced the resolution and asked the ICC to follow his lead.
The ICC indicted only two other leaders while they were still in power: Omar al-Bashir, Sudan’s former president, and Muammar Gaddafi from Libya.
Mykhailo Podolyak was a consultant to Volodymyr Zelenskyy the Ukrainian President. He suggested that Putin’s status as an accused war criminal means that there will not be any further negotiations with him; that the Russian Federation will not return to world politics in its prewar state; and that sanctions will not be lifted as long as Putin is Russia’s face.
Medvedev posted a Telegram video on Wednesday saying, “Let us imagine — obviously, this situation will never be realized, but nonetheless let’s pretend that it was realized. The current head of nuclear state went into territory like Germany and was arrested,” reported DW.
“What would it be?” Medvedev stated that it would be a declared war against the Russian Federation. “And in that case, all our assets — all of our missiles, etc. — would fly to Germany’s Bundestag, or to the office of the chancellor”.
Medvedev made a similar threat via Twitter on Friday. He stated that Putin’s arrest in Germany would be “casus belli,” the unambiguous declaration of war against the Russian Federation. Russia would then be forced to attack Berlin and its means of destruction would rain on the Bundestag and Chancellery and other crucial centers of decision-making. Mr. Scholz has chosen a great team! Poor Germans …”
On the provocateurs from Berlin and the Hague
The fools from the European power structure truly astound me. Thus, a few days ago the German Minister of Justice said that the President of Russia would be arrested if he – all of a sudden – comes to them.
The minister, unlike Frau…— Dmitry Medvedev (@MedvedevRussiaE) March 24, 2023
Medvedev had indicated that hypersonic missiles could reach the Hague if the Russian president was arrested days earlier.
Telegram’s security official stated that “I am afraid, gentlemen,” everyone is accountable to God and missiles. It’s possible to visualize how a hypersonic Oniks from a Russian warship in the North Sea would strike the Hague court building. It cannot be shot down, I fear.”
Medvedev’s threats were condemned by the ICC, which stated, “The Presidency at the Assembly regrets these attempts impede international efforts to ensure accountability for acts that are prohibited according to general international law.”
DW reported that Russia opened its own criminal probe into Karim Khan, the ICC’s chief prosecutor. Putin’s Investigative Committee claims Khan may have violated Russian law by accusing an innocent person of a crime and “preparing an attack against a representative from a foreign state under international protection” to complicate international relations.
