NYT: Sanctions won’t be lifted on Russia until Putin is extradited to The Hague
Russia has already stated that the decision will not be recognized and Putin will not be extradited to international justice.
Russia cannot get international sanctions lifted until President Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova are extradited to the International Criminal Court.
This was stated in a commentary by The New York Times by the former Ambassador-at-Large, who headed the Office of Global Criminal Justice at the State Department, Stephen Rapp. He noted that the decision of the ICC would make Putin an outcast.
Wherever Putin goes, he will always face arrest. “It will never go away,” Rapp said.
Moreover, according to him, Russia cannot achieve the lifting of international sanctions without the execution of court orders.
Rapp believes that Putin will end up in The Hague, where other accused war criminals are being tried. “Otherwise, Putin will die with this (warrant) hanging over his head.”
Putin’s arrest warrant – what is known
The day before, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin and Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. They are accused of forcibly deporting Ukrainian children.
Russia has already stated that the decision will not be recognized and Putin will not be extradited to international justice. Moscow has indeed not ratified the Rome Statute.
ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan called the court’s decision “historic” because for the first time a president of a member state of the UN Security Council can be prosecuted.
However, experts agree that one should not expect significant results in bringing Putin to justice in the near future. At the same time, this is a big signal to the Russian elite and allies of the Russian Federation.