"This is not the last": a lawyer told the arrest of which of the leadership of the Russian Federation can issue warrants in the Hague
An expert in the field of international law, Doctor of Laws and Professor Boris Babin told this in a comment to Focus. "I do not think that the ISS will stamp the warrants every day, but of course it is not the last decision about the arrest of Russian officials. There may be a rather wide list. Hague, " - emphasizes Babin. According to him, in the first place it is about military leadership and individual civilian civil servants in Russia.
Also, a similar decision in the Hague can be made in relation to the so -called heads of occupation administrations in the territory of Ukraine, says the expert. It is about the "head of Crimea" Sergey Aksenov, the leader of fighters in Donetsk Denis Pushilin, his "colleagues" from Lugansk Leonid Pasichnyk and others. But this is a matter of "more than a minute", adds a lawyer.
The Hague has a certain procedure for the following decisions: first prosecutors submit an appropriate request to judges who should consider and vote. That is, further warrants can only appear after a certain time. The EU EU Supreme Representative, Josep Borrel, in turn, also stated that Putin's precedent would be responsible for a number of criminal cases against Russia's military and political leadership who are guilty of war crimes during the war in Ukraine.
Boris Babin believes that the Russian leader is sure to respond to the ISS decision in some way. Yes, it should be expected that Vladimir Putin will decide to go to a puppet country on an official visit to show that he is not afraid of a warrant issued for his arrest. The expert suggests that the President of the Russian Federation may visit Belarus or some of the Central Asian countries related to Russia. However, such a visit will be one -off, the expert emphasizes.
The Russian leader has recently been out of the country. The Hague's decision will make him a completely impossible visit to any Western country. Even those states that have not ratified the Roman Statute, but generally respect international law and seek to position themselves as civilized, will not accept the President of the Russian Federation in their territory.
Despite the fact that Russia's leader will not risk and go to the countries that can issue his court, Hague's decisions on a warrant are important, the lawyer says. First, Putin's warrant was able to strengthen the sanction policy on the Russian Federation. The restrictions imposed on Moscow, the Western countries will now be able to remove only after the arrest of the Russian president, explains the expert. Secondly, the ISS decision emphasizes the crime of the Kremlin regime.
The warrant himself cannot be canceled - the final point in this story will be able to put only a meeting in the presence of Putin himself in the courtroom. Third, precedents for the issuance of former Dictators in the practice of ISS have already been. Thus, in 2001, President of Serbia and then the Union Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Miloshevich were arrested, in the same year a politician, which was accused of committing war crimes, was handed over to the International Tribunal.
Therefore, the expert does not exclude that the warrant will really be able to give a real result and force the Russian leader to appear in the Hague court. "The Russian president is accused of horrific international crimes and worse for him can only be a court sentence. But it is impossible without his personal presence at a meeting in the Hague," the expert adds.