ICC Putin arrest warrant ‘counterproductive’ – MEP (VIDEO)
The credibility of international legal institutions has been severely undermined by Western efforts to wage “lawfare” against Russia, a member of the European Parliament (MEP) has told RT.
Luxembourger Fernand Kartheiser made the comments after Switzerland offered to host Ukraine peace talks and suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin would receive immunity from an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him.
The ICC announced the warrant in March 2023, alleging the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine. Russia has rejected the jurisdiction of the court, calling its decisions null and void.
Kartheiser questioned the credibility of the warrant against Putin, insisting it was initially designed as part of a broader Western strategy to weaken Moscow.
“We had this diplomatic isolation. We had economic sanctions. We had military support for Ukraine. We had many ways to weaken Russia and one of those ways is lawfare,” the MEP recalled.
He argued that this strategy has proven “counterproductive for any diplomatic efforts to settle the conflict,” and pointed out that the ICC warrant is “basically not practicable.”
“We have a huge problem with the credibility of international jurisdictions,” Kartheiser said, adding that “we should give it a thought and also stop to use lawfare as a weapon in this conflict.”
The MEP also challenged the basis for the ICC’s allegations. He noted that despite claims of thousands of children being abducted, Ukraine had provided Russia with a list of only 309 names during earlier peace talks in Istanbul.
“I don’t think that you can continue to argue that there has been a systematic abduction of Ukrainian children to Russia. So I think that there is an issue with the credibility also of the arrest warrant by the ICC,” he said.
Kartheiser also told RT that Switzerland’s proposal to host the summit was an attempt to restore its neutrality and argued that Ukraine should hold elections as Vladimir Zelensky’s mandate as president has expired.
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