According to Andriy Kostin, the decision of the International Criminal Court in The Hague is historic for Ukraine and the entire system of international law. And he added that law enforcement officers recorded the deportation of 16,000 children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has the official status of a suspect in an international crime. Outside of Russia, he must be detained and brought to court. Andriy Kostin, Prosecutor General of Ukraine, wrote about this on his Facebook page.
He welcomed the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for Putin and Russian Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvovo-Belova.
According to Kostin, now world leaders should think three times before shaking hands with the head of the Kremlin and sitting at the same table with him.
“The world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and its leadership and henchmen will be held accountable,” Kostin wrote.
In his opinion, this is a historic decision for Ukraine and the entire system of international law.
“I am personally grateful to ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan for it. We work closely on a daily basis to investigate crimes committed against Ukraine. In particular, on the forced deportation of children, the Office of the Prosecutor General handed over to the ICC more than 40 volumes of materials – more than 1,000 pages,” Kostin said.
He also noted that the Office of the Prosecutor General recorded the deportation of 16,000 children from Lugansk, Donetsk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions. However, the real figure could be much higher.
“There is no doubt that this is a planned policy of Russia aimed at destroying Ukraine as a state and Ukrainians as a nation,” Kostin said.
He also stated that Ukraine has already returned home 308 children. However, there is still a lot of work to be done to bring back everyone else and bring all perpetrators of war crimes to justice.
“Today’s decision is a historic step. But this is only the beginning of a long journey of restoring justice,” the prosecutor general said.
Andrei Kostin on the arrest of Vladimir Putin
Recall that the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Putin. In addition to the Russian dictator, a court in The Hague issued an arrest warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, the presidential commissioner for children’s rights.
