WASHINGTON: US Vice President Joe Biden said that it is clear that Russian President Vladimir Putin has committed war crimes. The International Criminal Court (ICC) was right to issue an arrest warrant for him.
Earlier on Friday, the ICC asked for Putin to be arrested. It thinks he illegally sent children and people from Ukraine to Russia after Moscow began its invasion. The U.S. does not belong to the ICC.
Biden said about Putin, “He’s clearly committed war crimes,”
“Well, I think it’s justified,” Biden said about the warrant. “But the question is, neither we nor anyone else around the world recognises it. I think it makes a very good point, though.”
A spokesperson for the State Department said in an email that the US has come to the separate conclusion that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine and that they should be held accountable.
“There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities (in) Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable,” the spokesperson said.
The move by the ICC means that any of its 123 member states must arrest Putin and send him to The Hague to stand trial if he steps on their land. On Friday, the ICC also issued a warrant for Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, on the same charges.
Last month, researchers from Yale University said in a report backed by the US that Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in at least 43 camps and other facilities as part of a “large-scale systematic network.”
Russia has denied that its troops have done horrible things during the invasion. The Kremlin said that the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin was wrong, but that it didn’t matter for Russia.
