On Friday, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Senator Maria Alekseevna Lvova Belova, the court said in a press release.
In its statement, the court said Putin was "allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of population (children) and illegal transfer of population (children) from the occupied regions of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."
The court added: “The crimes are alleged to have been committed in the occupied Ukrainian territories at least as of February 24, 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others, and.. or through others, and for failing to properly exercise control over his civilian and military subordinates who committed, or permitted the commission of, those acts and who were under his effective authority and control.”
Maria Alekseyevna Lvova Belova is the Russian official at the center of an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.
"The Commissioner for Children's Rights in the Office of the Russian President is also responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation and illegal transfer of population (children)" from the occupied regions of Ukraine, according to the ICC.
In 2021, Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed Senator Maria Lvova Belova as the Russian President's Commissioner for Children's Rights for a period of 5 years.
As Putin announced last February, the number of Russian residents who want to adopt children from the four regions annexed by Russia in Ukraine is increasing.
A report issued by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, Thursday, stated that Russia "has committed a wide range of violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law" in Ukraine.
The report stated that "war crimes" committed by the Russians include "attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, willful killings, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and other forms of sexual violence, as well as unlawful transfers and deportations of children."