German Minister of Justice: Berlin is ready to arrest Putin
Russian President Vladimir Putin will be detained if he crosses the borders of Germany, said the the German Federal Minister of Justice, Marco Buschmann, in an interview with Die Zeit. Bushman noted that he would comply with the court's requirement under the 1998 Rome Statute (the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the international treaty that established the ICC).
"I expect the ICC to quickly contact Interpol and ask for enforcement. Then, Germany will be obliged to arrest President Putin when he enters the German territory and hand him over to the ICC," Bushman said.
Earlier, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz welcomed the ICC's decision, calling the court "an important institution whose purpose is determined in accordance with international treaties." Commenting on the ICC's decision on Putin, Scholz said that "no one can be above the law."
US President Joe Biden also approved the decision of the International Criminal Court in The Hague to issue an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin. Biden noted that the decision of the Hague court is "justified", and such a decision is a "strong position". "It is obvious that he [Putin] committed war crimes," Reuters quoted Biden as saying.
The State Department said the U.S. supports bringing to justice those responsible for war crimes and, the International Court of Justice, concluded independently that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine.
The ICC is not part of the UN structure, its actions are defined by the Rome Statute of 1998. Russia signed the document in 2000, in 2016 Moscow withdrew from the agreement after the ICC characterized the annexation of Crimea by Russia as an act "tantamount to an international armed conflict" between Moscow and Kyiv.
The Rome Statute has been ratified by 123 countries. The U.S., China, Turkey, Iran, Israel, and India did not join the ratification.