MOSCOW, March 23. /TASS/. The actions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) will not influence the nature of Russian delegations' participation in the work of the UN and its bodies, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said at a briefing on Thursday.
"Any actions of the International Criminal Court will have no effect on the nature of our delegations' participation in the work of the United Nations and membership in its bodies," she said.
Zakharova noted that Russia has never cooperated and would never cooperate with the ICC. "The actions of this structure with regard to the citizens of our country are legally null and void," she added.
The diplomat also stressed that the ICC had never contributed to the resolution of conflicts in the international arena. "The recently released absurd decisions of the International Criminal Court aren’t special in any way, as they only serve to paint the picture further," she explained, commenting on the ICC's decision to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of "illegal deportation" of Ukrainian children.
The International Criminal Court was created by the 1998 Rome Statute. It is not part of the UN and is accountable to the countries that have ratified its statute. Non-signatories include Russia (signed but not ratified), the United States (signed but later withdrew its signature), and China (did not sign the statute). In 2016, Putin signed an order stating that Russia would not become a party to the ICC. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, the court "has failed to live up to the expectations placed on it and has not become a truly independent body of international justice.".