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Russia declines to ratify International Criminal Court Statute

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the relevant ruling on November 16

© Michel Porro/Getty Images

MOSCOW, November 16. /TASS/. Russia has no intention to become a member of the Rome Statute, which is the basic document establishing the International Criminal Court (ICC), according to the relevant resolution signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and posted on the government’s legal information web portal on Wednesday.

Under the president’s resolution, Russia’s Foreign Ministry will send the relevant notice to the UN Secretary-General.

The Rome Statute (The ICC Charter) was developed with Russia’s participation and adopted by the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rome on July 17, 1998. It entered into force on July 1, 2002 and started operating in 2003. Russia signed the document on September 13, 2000.

The ICC is a judicial body called upon to administer justice on behalf of the entire international community against persons guilty of committing especially grave crimes: genocide, aggression, crimes against humanity and war crimes. Each of these definitions is interpreted differently by the judicial law of different countries but the states that join the ICC Charter confirm that they understand them in the same way.

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