Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Commission of Inquiry, said on March 19 that he had ordered a legal review of a German minister’s statement that dictator Vladimir Putin will be arrested if he comes to Germany.
He claimed that the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) arrest warrant against Putin was “illegal”.
Bastrykin also said on March 17 that the Russian Commission of Inquiry is seeking to identify the ICC judges who issued the arrest warrant against Putin.
On March 17, the ICC arrest warrants issued for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian children’s rights commissioner who oversees the forced deportations of Ukrainian children. According to an ICC statement, there are “reasonable reasons to believe” that Putin is directly responsible for overseeing the forced abduction and displacement of more than 16,000 Ukrainian children since the full-scale invasion began.
German Justice Minister Marco Buschmann later said that Germany would do so must arrest Putin if he enters the country’s territory and if the International Criminal Court asks contracting states for enforcement.
