MOSCOW, March 22. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova announced that she is waiting for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for US political figures involved in the removal of children from Vietnam in the 1970s.

"Against the background of obscurantism and Western intrigues around the International Criminal Court and their false claims, particularly about Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, I would like to take a look back at how Washington engaged in machinations involving children," she wrote on Telegram on Wednesday.

According to Zakharova, the Americans "started to take children from Vietnam in large numbers" during Operation Babylift. The diplomat noted that the operation "was conducted very poorly" and not without avoiding human casualties. "On April 4, 1975, a Lockheed C-5A Galaxy transport aircraft of the US Air Force crashed over Vietnam due to the criminal negligence of US military authorities, claiming the lives of 78 kids. <...> I’m really looking forward to the day when the International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for the leaders of the United States, the Pentagon and all those ‘humanitarian foundations’ that played a role in this operation," Zakharova added.

On March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Lvova-Belova, saying that she was allegedly responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.