Russia issues reciprocatory arrest warrant for President of Intl' Hague Court

Russia has added the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to its wanted list, several months after the organization accused Russian President Vladimir Putin of illegally deporting children from Ukraine to Russia amidst the ongoing military conflict.

Piotr Józef Hofmański, along with his deputy Luz del Carmen Ibáñez Carranza and Judge Bertram Schmitt, is reportedly "wanted under the Criminal Code" according to the database of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, as was reported by the Moscow Times.

The ICC had previously accused Putin and Russia's children's commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, of the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. Under ICC regulations, all member states are obligated to arrest him if he enters their territory. However, Russia maintains that the ICC's arrest warrant, issued on March 17, is legally invalid since it is not a member state of the ICC.

Russia claims that it transferred thousands of children from Ukraine to protect them from the ongoing conflict.

This inclusion is just another in a long line of arrest warrants previously issued against ICC officials by Moscow, including ICC Judge Tomoko Akane in July and ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan in May, both of which presided over Putin's case.