Summary

  • The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine

  • The court accuses him of being responsible for forcibly deporting children from Ukraine to Russia after the invasion last year

  • ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan says children "can't be treated as spoils of war" and that it's possible Putin could stand trial

  • Russia, which does not recognise the ICC's jurisdiction, denies its forces have committed atrocities in Ukraine

  • Putin’s spokesman called the decision "outrageous and unacceptable" while Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky hailed it as "historic"

  • If Putin stays in Russia, he cannot be arrested - but he could be detained if he enters a country that wants to put him on trial

  • A warrant has also been issued for Russia's commissioner for children's rights

Live Reporting

Edited by Sarah Fowler

  1. Analysis

    Reaction revels a depth of emotion on both sides

    Frank Gardner
    BBC News, Security Correspondent

    The reactions to these arrest warrants have come within minutes of the announcement and they reveal a depth of emotion on both sides in the year-long Russian invasion of Ukraine.

    From Russia, an instant dismissal from the Foreign Ministry, reminding the world that Russia is not a signatory to the ICC’s Rome Statute.

    "Toilet paper" is how former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev described the warrants.

    But Ukraine, which has painstakingly helped document vast numbers of alleged war crimes committed by Russian forces, has applauded the decision, calling it "a historic day" and "only the beginning".

    Estonia’s Prime Minister called it "a step closer to judgement day".

  2. Wheels of justice are turning, says Ukraine's foreign minister

    Kuleba being interviewed by the BBC

    Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has also reacted, tweeting in English.

    "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," he says.

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

    Kuleba has recently given an interview to the BBC, saying countries that "mistreated Ukraine" will be held to account after the war ends.

    You can read that interview here.

  3. What's been happening?

    Jack Burgess
    Live reporter

    WATCH: The moment ICC judge reveals Putin's arrest warrant

    If you're just joining us, here's a catch up on today's major news:

    • Arrest warrants for Russia's President Vladimir Putin, and children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, have been issued by the International Criminal Court
    • The ICC says they are responsible for war crimes during the Ukraine war, which includes the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia
    • The Russian foreign ministry has denied atrocities and dismissed the warrant as having "no significance whatsoever".
    • Russia is not a signatory to the ICC's Rome Statute, so Putin and Lvova-Belova will not be extradited
    • Ukraine's prosecutor general has called the ICC's announcement a "historic" decision

  4. Atrocities committed must be investigated - UK

    James CleverlyReuters

    There was no advanced warning of these arrest warrants so we are still gathering plenty of reaction to the news.

    This includes UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverly, who welcomed the steps taken by the ICC "to hold those at the top of the Russian regime" to account.

    "Work must continue to investigate the atrocities committed," he tweeted.

    Also, some thoughts from the European Union's foreign policy chief Josep Borrell, who described the ICC's decision as "just the start".

    "This is an important decision of international justice and for the people of Ukraine," he added.

  5. Lvova-Belova insists Russia 'creating good conditions for children'

    Maria Lvova-Belova and Vladimir PutinGetty Images

    We have now had some reaction from Maria Lvova-Belova - Putin's children's commissioner who has also been issued with an arrest warrant.

    According to the Russian Ria Novosti news agency, Lvova-Belova says: "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."

  6. Children cannot be the spoils of war - ICC prosecutor

    Let's hear from Karim Ahmad Khan, prosecutor of the ICC, speaking on the charges of the unlawful deportation of children.

    In a statement, Khan says "the human impact of these crimes was also made clear during my most recent visit to Ukraine".

    He says:

    While there, I visited one of the care homes from which children were allegedly taken, close to the current frontlines of the conflict. The accounts of those who had cared for these children, and their fears as to what had become of them, underlined the urgent need for action.

    We must ensure that those responsible for alleged crimes are held accountable and that children are returned to their families and communities."

    We cannot allow children to be treated as if they are the spoils of war."

  7. Lvova-Belova claims she adopted boy from Mariupol

    Vitaliy Shevchenko
    BBC Monitoring

    Maria Lvova-Belova,EPA

    Here's a little more background information on Maria Lvova-Belova, Putin's children's commissioner whose arrest the International Criminal Court is also seeking.

    She previously claimed to have adopted a 15-year-old boy from Mariupol herself, telling Putin last month it was "thanks to you".

    In September last year, she spoke about the transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia.

    She complained Ukrainian children taken from Mariupol to Russia "spoke badly about the [Russian] president, said awful things and sang the Ukrainian anthem".

    They "started being integrated" after being placed in adopted families in Russia, she said.

    "So yes, there are some bad things initially, but then they transform into a love for Russia," she said.

  8. Who is Maria Lvova-Belova?

    Maria Lvova-Belova with Vladimir PutinEPA

    It is not just President Vladimir Putin who is facing allegations of war crimes - also the focus of the ICC is Maria Lvova-Belova.

    So what do we know about her?

    She was born in Penza October 1984 and is Putin's commissioner for children’s rights.

    Lvova-Belova has held that role since October 2021 and previously was a senator for the Penza Oblast.

    The 38-year-old faces accusations of being responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of children and that of unlawful transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russia, the ICC says.

  9. ICC says it made warrants public in effort to prevent further crimes

    Let's take another look at the ICC statement on the arrest warrant.

    The court alleges Vladimir Putin is responsible for war crimes, and has focused its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from occupied Ukraine to Russia.

    It says the crimes were committed in Ukraine from 24 February 2022 - when Russia launched its full-scale invasion.

    Russia's commissioner for children's rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, is also wanted by the ICC for same crimes.

    Judges had mulled issuing secret warrants but decided that making them public could "contribute to the prevention of the further commission of crimes".

    You can read the statement in full here.

  10. What other war crimes is Russia accused of?

    A placard being held up that reads WANTED WAR CRIMINAL with Putin's faceReuters

    The ICC's arrest warrant is focusing on the apparent forced abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia.

    The UN says there's evidence hundreds of Ukrainian children have been moved to Russia - and it says this is a war crime. But the UN says Russia also committed other war crimes in the country.

    Ukraine says Russian forces committed more than 400 war crimes just in the Kherson region - including civilians being abducted and killed.

    Elsewhere, mass burial sites have been found in several parts of Ukraine previously occupied by Russian troops, including some holding civilian bodies showing signs of torture.

    Russia denies its troops intentionally target civilians or have committed atrocities in occupied areas. More here.

  11. Warrants will make Putin an international pariah

    Anna Holligan
    Reporting from The Hague

    Vladimir PutinGetty Images

    The International Criminal Court (ICC) has made President Vladimir Putin a wanted man.

    Human Rights Watch say 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".

    Russia is not a member of the ICC and there is no expectation any suspects will be handed over.

    But, the warrant will make the Russian president an international pariah and make it hard for him to travel, especially to any country that is signed up to the ICC.

    ICC members are obliged to arrest anyone indicted by the court.

  12. Putin's spokesman: This is outrageous and unacceptable

    Steve Rosenberg
    BBC Russia editor

    On a brief telephone conference call with journalists tonight, Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov had this response to the ICC arrest warrant for President Putin:

    “The very question [raised by the ICC] is outrageous and unacceptable. Russia, along with several other states, does not recognise the jurisdiction of that court and thus any decisions of this kind for Russia are null and void from a legal point of view.”

    Peskov declined to take any further questions on the subject.

  13. Few expected prosecutors would go right to the top

    Anna Holligan
    Reporting from The Hague

    Inside the International Criminal Court there's an incongruous quiet.

    This is one of the most ambitious cases the ICC has ever embarked upon.

    There's been considerable speculation about if and when the ICC would identify suspects.

    Few expected the prosecutor to go right to the top.

  14. Putin's arrest warrant like toilet paper - Medvedev

    Reaction is coming in thick and fast now. Russia's former leader Dmitry Medvedev goes as far as comparing the warrant for Vladimir Putin's arrest to "toilet paper".

    The man who served as president of Russia between some of Putin's terms, and later had a long stint as prime minister, has been extremely vocal and supportive of the war in Ukraine.

  15. 'Unlikely to worry Putin much - in short term'

    The ICC has issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin, but how concerned will he be?

    Jonathan Leader Maynard, lecturer in international politics at King's College London, says this is "unlikely to worry Putin much in the short run".

    "The ICC relies on cooperation from governments to actually arrest people, and the Russian government is obviously not going to cooperate in this respect - nor is it a signatory to the Rome Statute that created the ICC," he adds.

    But it could create complications for Putin further down the line, he says.

    In terms of the freedom of his travel round the world, or in a scenario in which he fell from power.

    But it seems extremely unlikely, at present, that we'll ever actually see Putin appear before the ICC."

  16. Some disabled children did not receive care and medication - UN report

    A bit more detail now from that United Nations report we mentioned earlier - it outlines that "some children with disabilities did not receive adequate care and medication".

    The UN says Russia has introduced policies such as the granting of Russian citizenship and the placement of children in foster families to "create a framework in which some of the children may end up remaining permanently" in Russia, the report notes.

    While the transfers were supposed to be temporary "most became prolonged", with both parents and children facing "an array of obstacles in establishing contact", UN investigators wrote.

    In some cases, parents or children told the Commission once in Russia-controlled areas, transferred children were made to wear "dirty clothes, were screamed at, and called names".

    It also quotes witnesses as saying that the smaller children transferred may have not been able to establish contact with their families and might, as a consequence, "lose contact with them indefinitely".

    The forced deportations of Ukrainian children "violate international humanitarian law, and amount to a war crime", concludes the report.

  17. 'Wow': Kremlin critics react

    Russian opposition activists and anti-Kremlin accounts on social media are welcoming the ICC's arrest warrant for Putin.

    "Wow!" tweeted jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny's close ally Ivan Zhdanov.

    Leonid Volkov, another close ally of Navalny, describes the ICC's arrest warrant for Putin as a "symbolic" but "important" move.

    "Good news! Better late than never" added Russian journalist and Kremlin critic Artemy Troitsky.

  18. Will Putin be arrested?

    The ICC was created to prosecute and bring to justice those responsible for the worst crimes - genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. The court has global jurisdiction.

    It is a court of last resort, intervening only when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.

    The ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within countries who are signed up to the agreement that set up the court, known as the Rome Statute.

    Russia is not a signatory to that agreement - so Vladimir Putin or Maria Lvova-Belova will not be extradited, and of course Putin is the Russian president.

    The ICC relies on countries worldwide to help make arrests and transfer suspects to The Hague.

  19. Analysis

    An extraordinary development in the Ukraine war

    Frank Gardner
    BBC News, Security Correspondent

    Vladimir PutinReuters

    This, on the face of it, is an extraordinary development in Russia’s year-old invasion of Ukraine.

    Of all the many alleged and well-documented war crimes committed there by Russian forces, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has chosen to focus on the apparent forced abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia.

    In the eyes of the Court, the blame rests squarely with President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

    The arrest warrants are in response to the alleged war crime of unlawful transfer of children from Russian-occupied areas of Ukraine.

    A statement issued by the ICC said the arrest warrants were intended to be secret in order to protect victims and witnesses.

    But, it said it was in the interests of justice to publicise them in order to prevent any further abductions.

  20. Russia says ICC warrant has no significance

    Russia has repeatedly denied accusations of atrocities during its invasion of Ukraine.

    The Kremlin has also repeatedly said it does not recognise the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court and says it bears no obligations under it.

    Responding to the arrest warrant against Putin, a Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman says it has "no significance whatsoever".

    "The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view," spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel.

    "Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it. Russia does not cooperate with this body, and possible 'recipes' for arrest coming from the International Court will be legally null and void for us."