The President of the United States, Joe Biden, declared on Friday that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin for war crimes is “justified”.
Speaking to the media at the White House, Biden recalled that that judicial institution is not recognized by the United States, but said his decision to issue such an order nevertheless sends “a very strong signal.”
The ICC today issued an arrest warrant for Putin’s war crimes charges over his alleged involvement in child abductions in Ukraine.
In a communique, the ICC accuses Putin of being “allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegally deporting population (children) and illegally transferring population (children) from occupied territories of Ukraine to the Russian Federation”.
At stake are thousands of Ukrainian children forcibly transported to Russia or occupied territories.
A report on Russia’s systematic program for the re-education and adoption of children from Ukraine, released in February by the Humanitarian Research Laboratory at the Yale School of Public Health (HRL), estimates that more than 6,000 Ukrainian minors in 43 Russian reception centers are placed. education or orphanages after the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The report admits the number could be much higher.
The non-governmental organization (NGO)Human Rights Watch (HRW) estimates in another report that thousands of Ukrainian children living in orphanages were forcibly transferred to Russia or occupied territories.
The military offensive launched by Russia in Ukraine a little over a year ago has so far led to the flight of more than 14.6 million people – 6.5 million internally displaced people and more than 8.1 million to European countries – according to the latest data from the UN, which classifies this refugee crisis as the worst in Europe since the Second World War (1939-1945).
At the moment, at least 18 million Ukrainians need humanitarian aid and 9.3 million people need food aid and shelter.
The Russian invasion – justified by Putin with the need to “denazify” and demilitarize Ukraine for Russia’s security – was condemned by the international community at large, which responded by sending arms to Ukraine and imposing political and political sanctions. put to Russia.
The UN presented as confirmed since the start of the war, which today entered its 387th day, 8,231 civilian deaths and 13,734 wounded, underlining that these numbers are well below the real ones.
Source: DN
