MOSCOW, June 30. /TASS/. The Anglo-Saxons have forced the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at an online briefing on Friday.
"The inviolability of heads of state is guaranteed by international law, by the relevant conventions. In the case of the ICC decision, it is not so much a manifestation of inviolability, but rather a sense of untouchability of the Anglo-Saxons, who forced this prosecutor, an ethnic Pakistani, as I understand, but with a British passport, to bypass all procedures, all rules, and with unprecedented speed concoct the arrest warrant against the Russian president and children's rights commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova," the top Russian diplomat said, answering a question as to whether Russia can guarantee the inviolability of the Russian president.
According to Lavrov, the "untouchability" of the Anglo-Saxons, who demand that others do as they say and leave them alone, is well known. In particular, the top Russian diplomat cited the situation when the previous ICC prosecutor tried to open a case on American military crimes in Afghanistan, and Washington responded by imposing sanctions against him. "They passed a law in the US that said categorically that no warrants from this International Criminal Court should be executed. There were also attempts to take into account the credible, incontrovertible facts of the crimes committed by the British and Australians in Afghanistan. The Court remained silent and, basically, proved its actions were being steered, primarily by the Americans and the British," the minister pointed out.
Lavrov noted that Russia is not obliged to do anything under the decisions of the ICC. "The fact that this (arrest warrants for Putin and Lvova-Belova - TASS) is a fake case is known to everyone who is ready to take an unbiased look at what the International Criminal Court is all about. It does not bind us to do anything, just like many other countries, including, by the way, the United States, the People's Republic of China and India. So this is a clear failed attempt to improve international criminal justice," the top Russian diplomat concluded.
On March 17, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, alleging that they were responsible for the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children. When commenting on the decision, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov pointed out that Russia did not recognize the International Criminal Court. In turn, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that the decisions of the ICC had no meaning for Russia whatsoever, while any potential arrest warrants would be legally null and void.