127 quotes

Russia is not a party of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it,

This is a historic decision for Ukraine and the entire system of international law,

The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view,

Well, I think it’s justified,

I think it (the ICC arrest warrant for Putin – ed.) is justified. Putin has clearly committed war crimes,

The world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and that its leadership and accomplices will be brought to justice,

The Hague Chamber of the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin. This is just the beginning,

We have always made clear at the European Union, that those responsible for the illegal aggression against Ukraine must be brought to justice, and this International Criminal Court issue is just the start in the process of accountability,

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 ICC Prosecutor is an independent actor and makes his own prosecutorial decisions based on the evidence before him. We support accountability for perpetrators of war crimes,

This is a test for the court. It’s a test for me, it’s a test for the office,

This is a big day for the many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014,

Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,

The ICC is doing its part of work as a court of law,

The devastating impacts of Russia's failing war of aggression will be felt for generations to come,

Many of these children, we allege, have since been given up for adoption in the Russian Federation,

Now the Russian president has the official status of a suspect in an international crime - the illegal deportation and displacement of Ukrainian children. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian President Putin and Russia's Commissioner for Children's Rights Lvova-Belova,

I am grateful to the team of prosecutor Karim Khan and the [ICC], everyone in the world who is helping us in the fight for justice,

I support and welcome the news because Ukraine is fighting an aggressor. The year of war has shown that even with all the help, this fight is a difficult one,

The international criminal court is the right institution to investigate war crimes … The fact is nobody is above the law and that’s what’s becoming clear right now,

What's clear from the prosecution's investigations over the last year is that there is a criminal plan and the Russian military operation is inherently criminal, in the sense that you cannot seek to extinguish Ukrainian identity without the massive commission of war crimes and crimes against humanity and possibly genocide,

There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes,

There are reasonable grounds to believe that each suspect bears responsibility for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population and that of unlawful transfer of population from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation, in prejudice of Ukrainian children,

We do not recognize this court, we do not recognize the jurisdiction of this court. This is how we treat this,

He will remain an alleged criminal until and unless he submits himself for trial, or is handed over for trial and acquitted. That seems extremely unlikely, so he will remain an alleged criminal until the end of his life,

I think the ICC has been pedestrian in some respects and we need to accelerate,

Well, I think it's justified. But the question is - it's not recognized internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point,

It’s great that the international community has appreciated this work to help the children of our country: that we don’t leave them in war zones, that we take them out, that we create good conditions for them, that we surround them with loving, caring people,

Wheels of Justice are turning: I applaud the ICC decision to issue arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova over forcible transfer of Ukrainian children,

The deportation of Ukrainian children is the illegal transfer of thousands of our children to Russian territory,

We must return them all. And condemn in Ukrainian and international courts everyone involved in the forced deportation of Ukrainian children. As well as other war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and a serious international crime – aggression,

Now I know what it means to be a mother of a child from Donbas -- it is a difficult job but we love each other, that is for sure,

And accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the Russian Federation from the point of view of law,

Who would have thought 15 years ago that in the West taking care of children, saving them and helping them would become a criminal offence,

According to the ICC statute, which has 123 state parties, two-thirds of the whole international community, the court has jurisdiction over crimes committed in the territory of a state party or a state which has accepted its jurisdiction,

We thanked the US authorities and the American people for the comprehensive and powerful support of our country in the struggle for freedom and the return of peace to Europe,

Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court issued warrants of arrest for two individuals in the context of the situation in Ukraine: Mr Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin and Ms Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova,

The Chinese peace plan is a fig leaf to push back against some Western criticism on support for Russia,

It would have been impossible to enact such a criminal operation without the say-so of the man at the helm of the terrorist state,

There are 123 states, two-thirds of the states of the world in which he will not be saved,

Naturally, during the course of the special military operation all this equipment will be subject to destruction,

The simple reality is that these crimes have not been hidden,

Russia is literally tearing apart our future. We’ll do our utmost to bring children home and hold every perpetrator of the horrendous crimes accountable,

It delivers to Ukraine a very strong case to say that as a condition of a settlement, we’re either not going to deal with the guy who’s wanted for war crimes, or that this person must be delivered to the ICC to pay for his crimes,

We discussed the further provision of necessary assistance to our country, in particular vehicles, weapons and ammunition,

We welcome the step taken by the independent ICC to hold those at the top of the Russian regime, including Vladimir Putin, to account,

Military aid is key to ensure Ukraine can defend itself and the entire Europe against Russia,

The more difficult job of trying to build complex aggregate cases which establish the responsibility of those in the higher political and military leadership is a task which still remains to be done,

Russia is a criminal country itself and it behaves by its own rules,

This means that Putin should be arrested and brought to court outside of Russia,

We regard any attacks on the president of the Russian Federation as aggression against our country,

That doesn't matter if Russia travels to, let's say, China or some other country that's not a member of the ICC,

The drawings pinned on the wall … spoke to a context of love and support that was once there. But this home was empty, a result of alleged deportation of children from Ukraine to the Russian Federation or their unlawful transfer to other parts of the temporarily occupied territories,

The primary purpose of the camps appears to be political reeducation,

Incidents identified by my office include the deportation of at least hundreds of children taken from orphanages and children’s care homes,

We want to talk about those crimes that he committed. We want to document them and we want to deter others from possibly participating in the future. I think that's the most important thing,

He's clearly committed war crimes,

We expect all states that consider themselves part of the civilised world to take appropriate steps to bring those suspected of committing international crimes to justice,

The evidence we presented focused on crimes against children. Children are the most vulnerable part of our society,

Putin will be 'haunt(ed) for the rest of his life' by warrant,

These cases are just the tip of the iceberg,

We highly appreciate the restrained, well-balanced position of the Chinese leadership on this issue,

As I noted to the United Nations Security Council last September, these alleged acts are being investigated by my office as a priority. Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,

We need to be aware that such peace talks are a trap for Ukraine and its diplomatic corps,

We will protect him – the people of Russia,

The court has jurisdiction over crimes committed on anyone on the territory of Ukraine from November 2013 onwards regardless of nationality of the alleged perpetrators,

First of all, after receiving a warrant from the judicial chamber of pretrial proceedings, measures are taken to search for and detain suspects. To do this, the International Criminal Court (ICC) appeals to the States Parties to the Rome Statute with a request to detain and transfer a person to the ICC,

Nevertheless, the judges of the chamber dealing with this case decided to make the existence of the warrants public in the interest of justice and to prevent the commission of future crimes,

We appreciate and support the ICC's work. There can be no impunity,

This means that from now until his detention, the President of Russia and the Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces, as the head of a terrorist organization, will be afraid to travel outside of Russia because of the likelihood that he will be extradited to the International Criminal Court. This means that every politician, who considers himself civilized, who looks to the future, should think three times before dealing with the Russian leader or his accomplices, and even more so - shake hands or sit down at the negotiating table,

It’s hard to judge the ICC’s investigation based on past practice,

This is just the beginning,

Obviously, we must return everyone, we will do everything for this. For the return of every Ukrainian, every Ukrainian woman, every child. And for the real responsibility of all those responsible for this deportation - from the head of the terrorist state to all the perpetrators,

The president (George W. Bush) thinks the ICC is fundamentally flawed because it puts American servicemen and women at fundamental risk of being tried by an entity that is beyond America’s reach, beyond America’s laws and can subject American civilians and military to arbitrary standards of justice,

This is probably the highest profile action that the International Criminal Court has ever taken,

In particular, regarding forced deportation of children, [the] Prosecutor General’s Office has submitted more than 40 volumes of materials to the ICC — more than 1000 pages,

China does not clearly distinguish between who is the aggressor and who is the victim. And when a country begins its peacekeeping activities or at least seeks to help the parties, not distinguishing this will affect objectivity,

Anyone who has instigated a bloody war like Putin should have to answer for it in court,

Within 48 hours, 39 state parties referred the Ukraine situation to my office, and it's now 43 from different parts of the world — from Japan, from Latin America, and from Europe. So that's one-third of all state parties to the court,

More will come over the next few months. This has got to be a sort of warning shot across the bow,

The 2008 conflict over South Ossetia took a terrible toll on civilians, many of whom continue to pay the price,

The arrest warrant issued for Putin is logical and expected, because it was he who appointed Maria Lvova-Belova in October 2021. She is his person, all her relatives are in senior positions in the Russian Ministry of Culture and the Russian Orthodox Church. She was well thanked for implementing this genocidal policy against the Ukrainian nation. This decision of the International Criminal Court is fateful and extremely courageous. The ICC may change the qualification of the crime, and we expect that in the future it will be genocide. During the hot phase of the conflict, the ICC is gaining courage to come out and issue an arrest warrant for the current head of state,

So Putin might go to China, Syria, Iran, his ... few allies, but he just won’t travel to the rest of the world and won’t travel to ICC member states who he believes would ... arrest him,

The warrants send a clear message that giving orders to commit or tolerating serious crimes against civilians may lead to a prison cell in The Hague. The court’s warrants are a wakeup call to others committing abuses or covering them up that their day in court may be coming, regardless of their rank or position,

[At] around 1:00am, our region was attacked by kamikaze drones of the Shahed 136 type. According to preliminary information, there were six of them,

To part children from their families, to prevent them from contacting their relatives, to hide children on the territory of Russia, to disseminate them around far-flung regions is clearly state policy of Russia, state decisions and state evil, which starts precisely with the top official of this state,

Even if not today, there will come a time when, in all likelihood, Putin will be charged as the ultimate commander-in-chief presiding over the Kremlin’s war-crime strategy,

In the criminal proceedings being investigated by our law enforcement officers, more than 16,000 forced deportations of Ukrainian children by the occupier have already been recorded. But the real, full number of deportees may be much higher,

The judges have reviewed the information and evidence submitted by the prosecutor and determined that there are credible allegations against these persons for the alleged crimes,

International criminals will be held accountable for stealing children and other international crimes,

Professor David Crane, who indicted Liberian President Charles Taylor 20 years ago for crimes in Sierra Leone, said dictators and tyrants around the world 'are now on notice that those who commit international crimes will be held accountable to include heads of state'. Taylor was eventually detained and put on trial at a special court in the Netherlands. He was convicted and sentenced to 50 years in jail. 'This is an important day for justice and for the citizens of Ukraine,

In particular, on the forcible deportation of children, the PGO handed over to the ICC more than 40 volumes of materials, more than 1,000 pages. In total, in the proceedings in which the PGO exercises procedural guidance, the deportation of more than 16,000 children from Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv and Kherson regions was recorded. But 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. By kidnapping our children, Russia is literally stealing our future,

[At] around 21:00 on 17 March 2023, the Russian invaders attacked Ukraine with Iranian-made kamikaze attack drones of the Shahed-136/131 type,

Now, if Putin leaves Russia, he would be arrested and surrendered to ICC,

Over 16,000 incidents of forcible deportation of children are investigated in Ukraine,

We do not believe that this is a step towards a just, durable peace,

“The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022,

This will hang over the upcoming meeting between President Xi and President Putin,

The Russian army cannot get here while Ukraine holds out – and [therefore] protects Moldova,

All pro-western liberal forces who looked for compromise with the west will be fired,

This makes Putin a pariah. If he travels, he risks arrest. This never goes away. Russia cannot gain relief from sanctions without compliance with the warrants,

Lvova-Belova’s efforts specifically include the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called ‘patriotic education’ of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russia’s forces,

Investigators work every day so that not only the perpetrators but also the main ‘organizer’ of crimes are punished. We are doing everything to show the world not emotions, but a clear evidence base that will eventually bring Putin to a well-deserved end on the dock. Putin definitely deserves an international tribunal,

It now puts pressure on any country, which is a signatory to the ICC, to the Rome Statute, to arrest him if he ever travels to those countries,

Nevertheless, mindful that the conduct addressed in the present situation is allegedly ongoing, and that the public awareness of the warrants may contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes, the Chamber considered that it is in the interests of justice to authorise the Registry to publicly disclose the existence of the warrants, the name of the suspects, the crimes for which the warrants are issued, and the modes of liability as established by the Chamber,

It is an astonishingly ambitious criminal plan,

War is a crime, but not a war crime,

This is an historic decision which will lead to historic accountability,

He's got a big prison cell called Russia that he can roam around in and he's probably going to be protected wherever he goes in, you know, in his alliances, North Korea, Russia, China, the usual, but that's where we sit right now,

It’s poignant,

Obviously, this is a symbolic decision,

The world changed,

I don’t think we were expecting to see him travel to France or Ukraine anytime soon, but he’s got to be careful,

Now Putin is truly an international pariah,

So Putin might go to China, Syria, Iran, his ... few allies, but he just won’t travel to the rest of the world and won’t travel to ICC member states who he believes would ... arrest him,” said Adil Ahmad Haque, an expert in international law and armed conflict at Rutgers University. Others agreed. “Vladimir Putin will forever be marked as a pariah globally. He has lost all his political credibility around the world. Any world leader who stands by him will be shamed as well,” David Crane, a former international prosecutor, told The Associated Press. The court’s president, Piotr Hofmanski, said in a video statement that while the ICC’s judges issued the warrants, it will be up to the international community to enforce them. The court has no police force of its own to do so. The court can impose a maximum sentence of life imprisonment “when justified by the extreme gravity of the crime,” according to its founding treaty, the Rome Statute, establishing the ICC as a permanent court of last resort to prosecute political leaders and other key perpetrators of the world’s worst atrocities — war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Still, the chances of Putin facing trial remain extremely remote, as Moscow does not recognize the court’s jurisdiction — a position it vehemently reaffirmed Friday. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov insisted that Russia doesn’t recognize the ICC and considers its decisions “legally void.” He added that Russia considers the court’s move “outrageous and unacceptable.” Peskov refused to comment when asked if Putin would avoid making trips to countries where he could be arrested on the ICC’s warrant. Ukraine’s human rights chief, Dmytro Lubinets, has said that based on data from the country's National Information Bureau, 16,226 children were deported. Ukraine has managed to bring back 308 children. Lvova-Belova, who was also implicated in the warrant, reacted with dripping sarcasm. "It is great that the international community has appreciated the work to help the children of our country, that we do not leave them in war zones, that we take them out, we create good conditions for them, that we surround them with loving, caring people,” she said. Ukrainian officials were jubilant at the move. In his nightly address to the nation, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called it a “historic decision, from which historic responsibility will begin." “The world changed,

Russians may come to realize this is another reason Putin can no longer serve their country,

There’s a clear case here against Putin,

Everyone must be punished for their crimes,

My office alleges that these acts, amongst others, demonstrate an intention to permanently remove these children from their own country,

No need to explain where this paper should be used,

The authorities are highly likely changing the age bracket to bolster troop numbers by ensuring that students are eventually forced to serve,

Such a criminal operation,

Two others hit a critical infrastructure facility in Novomoskovsk,

Under such conditions, these peace talks won’t be directed toward peace,

You don’t always check on what’s flying over your head,

Look at (Slobodan) Milosevic or Charles Taylor or (Radovan) Karadzic or (Ratko) Mladic,

However, history does not end here,

Good news,