The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on Friday for war crimes, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine.
In a news release court said, Putin committed the “war crime” of overseeing the unlawful abduction and deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
It added that Putin had failed to “exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control.”
Although world leaders have been indicted before, it was the first time the ICC has issued a warrant against a leader of one of the five permanent members of the U.N. Security Council.
ICC also issued an warrant for Putin’s presidential commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova and said, “Maria Alekseyevna Lvova-Belova is also alleged to have committed similar crimes.”
