WASHINGTON, March 18. /TASS/. For the sake of its own geopolitical interests the US administration supports the unprecedented legal bacchanalia unleashed by the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Russian embassy in Washington said in a comments released on Friday.
"We took notice of the statements of representatives of the U.S. administration on the alleged justification of the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue warrants of the arrest for President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. For the sake of its own geopolitical interests Washington supports the unprecedented legal bacchanalia unleashed by the ICC, knowing full well that Russia, like the United States, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC," the Russian diplomats stressed.
"Allowing unacceptable remarks about the Russian leader, the U.S. authorities deliberately keep silent about their own atrocities in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and Vietnam. Moreover, in an attempt to protect its citizens from international prosecution by all available means, the United States even takes odious measures," the added.
The Russian diplomatic mission recalled the decision of the Washington administration to introduce "unprecedented economic sanctions" against on the leadership of the Court, including ex-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who initiated an investigation into U.S. atrocities in Afghanistan.
"What independence and impartiality can we talk about? Such a position is reminiscent of sluggish schizophrenia. Today, all American officials in unison repeated that the ICC is not a decree for the United States. However, a strategic interest to annoy Russia as much as possible outweighs," the diplomats stressed.
On Friday, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova. The court’s statement said they could be responsible "for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation."
The ICC was created by the 1998 Rome Statute. It is not part of the UN and is accountable to countries that have ratified the statute. Countries not party to the statute include Russia (signed but not ratified), the United States (signed but later withdrew), and China (did not sign the statute). In 2016, Putin signed a decree under which Russia would not become a member of the ICC. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, this court "did not justify the hopes rested on it and did not become a truly independent body of international justice.".