ST. PETERSBURG, June 17. /TASS/. Russian authorities absolutely legally relocated children from the conflict area in Ukraine and have never opposed their reunification with families, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Saturday at talks with African leaders, which are aimed at looking for solutions to the Ukraine crisis.
"As far as children are concerned, children are a sacred subject. We took them out of the conflict area, saving their lives and health. That is what was happening. Nobody was going to separate anyone, any children, from their families. The entire orphanages were evacuated absolutely legally, as the heads of those orphanages were their lawful guardians," he said.
Putin stressed that Russian authorities "have never been against the fact that children will be reunited with their families in case, of course, their relatives show up."
"There are no obstacles to this, has never been, and certainly never will be," he said.
On March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of the "unlawful deportation" of Ukrainian children. Commenting on the decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov noted that Moscow did not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the decisions of the ICC had no authority for Russia whatsoever, while any potential arrest warrants would be legally void.