German officials have made clear they intend to enforce an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin if the opportunity arises, as Moscow rails against the measure and denies it's committing war crimes in Ukraine, despite mounting evidence.
On Wednesday, Berlin's top diplomat in Ukraine became the latest German figure to commit to the ICC warrant, which was issued last week over Russia's forced transfer of thousands of Ukrainian children to Russian territory since Moscow's full-scale invasion began last February.
"If Putin shows up in German territory, he will be arrested for sure," Anka Feldhusen told journalists at a Media Center Ukraine briefing on Wednesday. "That was confirmed yesterday by the minister of justice of Germany," she added. Chancellor Olaf Scholz has also expressed his backing for the warrant, telling reporters during last week's visit to Japan: "No one is above the law."
"We are part of Rome Statute," the ambassador said, referring to the agreement that underpins ICC authority. "It's not only us, but more than 120 countries. So, Putin will have trouble going on trips to any such countries."
"I think that this arrest order is very timely, and the discussion is being more about the liability of Russia for the crime of aggression, for all the war crimes they committed," Feldhusen added. "And we are working on it with our Ukrainian partners."
The ICC warrant prompted fury in Moscow, with former President Dmitry Medvedev—who has become one of the most vociferous proponents of expanding the war against Ukraine—even threatening missile strikes on the ICC.
Russia's top court has now opened its own investigation against the ICC and the judges responsible for the Putin arrest warrant.
The Russian president is unlikely to be arrested any time soon. But the ICC ruling has been interpreted as a signal to Russian political and military leaders—as well as front line troops—that the international court is committed to punishing those involved in the ongoing atrocities in Ukraine.
An arrest warrant was also issued for the president's children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, who has been publicly leading the relocation of Ukrainian children to Russia over the past year. More than 16,000 Ukrainian children have been taken to Russia since February 2022, according to Kyiv.
Vasily Nebenzya, Russia's permanent representative to the United Nations, has said the children will be returned when the situation is safe enough to allow it. But Ukrainian officials and UN investigators say the forcible transfers are among the litany of war crimes being committed by Russian forces.
"It's showing their elites that Putin has a mark on his head," Mark Voyger—a former special adviser for Russian and Eurasian affairs to then-commander of U.S. Army Europe General Ben Hodges—told Newsweek.
"The Russian elites have been trying to integrate into the West for decades now, with all their luxury lifestyles: yachts, investments, bank accounts, their children studying in the U.K., U.S., France and so on," Voyger—now a non-resident senior fellow at the Center for European Analysis and professor at the American University of Kyiv—said. "This is showing them that Putin is antithetical to all this."
"I think the hope here is that they will start to waver, or at least those who are somehow still tied to the West, and maybe they will see that the tide is turning," Voyger added.
Newsweek has contacted the Russian foreign ministry for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
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David Brennan is Newsweek's Diplomatic Correspondent covering world politics and conflicts from London with a focus on NATO, the European ... Read more
