Kremlin dismisses ICC warrant for Putin

The Kremlin said Friday that the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin was legally "void" since Moscow does not recognise the Hague-based court's jurisdiction.

"Russia, just like a number of different countries, does not recognise the jurisdiction of this court and so from a legal point of view, the decisions of this court are void," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

Russia is not a member of the ICC.

Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the decisions of the ICC "have no meaning" for Russia.

"Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it," she said on Telegram.

"Russia does not cooperate with this body and possible 'recipes' for arrest coming from the international court will be legally void as far as we are concerned," Zakharova said, without referring to Putin by name.

Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev also took to Twitter, likening the warrant to toilet paper.

The ICC announced earlier Friday it had issued an arrest warrant against Putin for the "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children.

It had also issued a warrant against Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's presidential commissioner for children's rights, on similar charges.

"There have been sanctions against me from all countries, even Japan, and now an arrest warrant...," Lvova-Belova was quoted as saying by state news agency RIA Novosti. "But we will continue our work."