Kremlin calls Putin arrest warrant ‘outrageous’

The Kremlin considers the arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin, issued on Friday by the International Criminal Court in The Hague, to be “outrageous”.

“We find the wording of the question itself outrageous and unacceptable,” said Dmitry Peskov, press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation.

He added that Russia does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC. “Therefore, any such decisions are legally invalid for the Russian Federation,” Peskov quoted Interfax as saying.

The official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Maria Zakharova, also said that the decisions of the ICC are “legally invalid”. “Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and is not bound by it. Russia does not cooperate with this body,” she explained.