The cases before the International Criminal Court are expected to charge Russia with abducting Ukrainian children and deliberately targeting civilian infrastructure. It is unclear who the court plans to indict in each case. In early March, the Ukrainian government’s National Intelligence Bureau said that more than 16,000 children could be involved.
The International Criminal Court plans to open two cases for Russian war crimes in Ukraine and seek arrest warrants for several people.
They are the first international charges brought against Russia since the conflict began and come after months of work by special teams of investigators, The New York Times reports.
They allege that Russia abducted Ukrainian children and teenagers, sent them to Russian re-education camps and that the Kremlin deliberately targeted civilian infrastructure.
Chief prosecutor Karim Khan must first present his charges to a panel of judges to decide whether the legal standards for issuing arrest warrants have been met or whether investigators need more evidence.
Sources cited by the NYT say it needs to be clear who the court plans to charge in each case.
Asked to confirm the arrest warrant requests, the U.S. attorney’s office said, “We do not publicly discuss details of ongoing investigations.”
Some diplomats and international experts say it is possible that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself could be indicted because the court does not recognize the immunity of a head of state in cases of war crimes, crimes against humanity or genocide.
However, the likelihood of a trial remains low, experts say, because the court cannot hold hearings in absentia, and Russia is unlikely to hand over its officials.
Moreover, the Kremlin has denied war crimes charges even as international and Ukrainian investigators have gathered evidence of atrocities committed by invading Russian forces.
The first case concerns abducted Ukrainian children. These range from toddlers to teenagers, as part of a Kremlin-sponsored programme.
They were taken from Ukraine, placed in children’s homes, or sent to summer camps for re-education. Some of them come from children’s homes or reform schools.
Moscow has made no secret of its programme, presenting it as a humanitarian mission to protect Ukrainian children orphaned by the war or whom Russia claims were abandoned due to the war.
Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, the program’s public face, began sending children to Russia weeks after the invasion started in February 2022 and has appeared regularly on television to promote adoptions.
For his part, Russian leader Vladimir Putin signed a decree last May to speed up Ukrainians’ access to Russian citizenship.
Prosecutor Khan did not hide his intention to precisely track this, saying that illegal transfers of children to Russia or the occupied regions of Ukraine are a priority for his investigators.
Earlier this month, he visited a now-liberated children’s home in southern Ukraine, and his office posted a photo of him sitting among empty cots. “Children cannot be treated as the spoils of war,” he said.
A report published in February by Yale University and the U.S. State Department’s Conflict Monitor program said at least 6,000 children in Ukraine are being held in 43 Russian camps, with the actual number far higher.
In early March, the Ukrainian government’s National Intelligence Bureau said there might be more than 16,000 children.
In the second case, the ICC chief prosecutor is expected to address Russia’s unrelenting attacks on civilian infrastructure, including water supplies, gas, and power plants, which are far from combat and are not considered legitimate military targets.
The U.S. government has evidence that the Kremlin deliberately targeted vital civilian infrastructure and would be willing to provide it to the court. Still, the Defense Department blocks fears that passing on the information could set a precedent and pave the way for the prosecution of Americans.
According to officials, President Biden has yet to decide whether to approve the release of the material.
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