A senior Russian official has warned that the arrest of Vladimir Putin by a foreign country following an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court last week could amount to a “declaration of war” on Moscow.
“Let’s imagine the thing (…) the head of the country for nuclear energy, for example, goes to Germany and gets arrested. What is this? A declaration of war against Russia,” announced Wednesday evening former President Dmitry Medvedev, number two in the Russian Security Council.
If that happens, “all our capabilities, our missiles, etc. will fall to the Bundestag, the chancellor’s office, and so on,” added Medvedev, who is used to dashing statements.
The warning comes after the Hague-based International Criminal Court last week issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children as part of Moscow’s attack on Ukraine.
On Wednesday, the International Criminal Court denounced the “threats” issued by Moscow against it, after the Russian judiciary announced the opening of a criminal investigation against a number of its judges and prosecutors, Karim Khan.
Earlier this week, Mr Medvedev had already threatened the ICC with a missile strike, urging the investigating judges to “watch the skies carefully”.
Russia, which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, called the arrest warrant for Mr Putin “null and void”.
