Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Russian Council, hinted that attempts to arrest Vladimir Putin abroad would be seen by Moscow as a “declaration of war”. The warning follows the arrest warrant against the Russian president issued last week by the International Criminal Court (ICC)
Medvedev, who served as Russia’s president from 2008 to 2012, said Wednesday night that Russian weapons would hit a country if it stopped Putin.
The ICC, based in The Hague, has issued an international arrest warrant against the Russian leader for his alleged involvement in the deportation of children from Ukrainian-occupied territories to Russia.
“Let’s imagine — it’s clear that this is a situation that will never happen — but still, let’s imagine it will,” said Medvedev, an ally of Putin. “The current head of a nuclear state arrives on the territory of Germany, for example, and is arrested. What is this? A declaration of war against the Russian Federation.”
Medvedev said that if that happened “all our resources, missiles and the like, would fly to the Bundestag, the office of the German Chancellor and so on”.
He also stated that the ICC’s decision will make relations with the West even worse.
These statements were made two days after the Russia announced it had opened a criminal investigation against ICC Attorney General Karim Khan and several other International Criminal Court judges, claiming that the decision to issue an arrest warrant against the Russian president was “illegal”.
In addition to Putin, an arrest warrant has also been issued for Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova, the child rights commissioner of the Russian presidency, on charges similar to those of the Russian president.
On Wednesday, the legislative body of the ICC deplored the “threats” against the court after the international arrest warrant against Putin was issued.
“The Presidency of the Assembly regrets these attempts to hinder international efforts to ensure accountability for acts prohibited under general international law,” the ICC said in a statement.
Source: DN
