Russia Will Declare A War If Putin Is Arrested By The ICC: Medvedev

Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ally Dmitry Medvedev has stated any attempt to arrest Putin may come as a declaration of war against Russia. His remarks came after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant recently. The warrant accused Putin of war crimes, illegally deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine, as reported by different sources.

The European leaders have initiated a plan to send Ukraine 1 million rounds of artillery ammunition during the next 12 months to cope with Russia’s invasion. The Ukrainian troops will initiate a counter-assault as Russia’s huge winter offense has weakened as the latter failed to capture the eastern city of Bakhmut. 

Ukrainian officials have said that the nation’s air missiles have fired at the Odesa region. It has been the second time in a week that the missiles have been fired at the Odesa region.

Former President Dmitry Medvedev has opened up to the Russian media that the ICC, which is not recognized by countries like China, the United States, and Russia are legal nonentity that has not done anything significant. 

Any attempt to detain Putin may come out as a declaration of war who works as the deputy chairman of Putin’s powerful council.

He has laid down a scenario if Putin is arrested in any country, it would imply a war against the Russian Federation. It would even mean that all the assets of Russia would fly into the country’s chancellor’s office, indirectly threatening the ICC to not arrest Putin. A video was shared on his social media platform.

The Kremlin has pointed out the decision by the ICC as an outrageously partisan decision but meaningless in terms of Russia. Russian officials have denied any war on Ukraine and stated that the West officials had overlooked the Ukrainian war crimes.

Russia’s attempt to invade Ukraine has caused a threatening situation with the European Union since World War two and has turned out to be the biggest confrontation between Moscow and the West after the Cuban crises in 1962.

Medvedev has stated that Russian relations with the West are at their weakest point.

Medvedev was the president of Russia from 2008 to 2012 and has called himself a pro-Western reformer. But since the start of the war, he has turned out to be one of the Russian leaders and has condemned the interference of the western nations and delivered a series of nuclear threats. He has stated that nuclear risks have increased. Every day marks the closeness to a nuclear war after delivering foreign weapons to Ukraine.

He has condemned the West for turning out to be the boss of Russia since the Soviet war in 1991, but Putin has brought an end to it. He has added that the decision has offended the West as they never liked the independence of Russia and China.

He alleged that they now want to break Russia into different weaker states and steal the nation’s natural resources.

Putin frames the Ukrainian conflict as an existential battle for Russia against what he sees as an egotistical and aggressive West intent on tearing Russia apart.

The West denies wanting to destroy Russia and claims to be assisting Ukraine in defending itself against an empire land grab. Ukraine has stated that it will not rest till all Russian soldiers have been removed from its territory.

“Ukraine is a part of Russia,” Medvedev declared, adding that nearly all of modern-day Ukraine was once part of the Russian empire. In the Budapest Memorandum of 1994, Russia acknowledged Ukraine’s post-1991 sovereignty and borders.

Medvedev predicted that relations with the West would improve one day, but it would take a while.

US Senators Ask Biden Administration to Help ICC Arrest Putin:

Recently, a bipartisan group in the United States has asked the Biden administration to share information with the International Criminal Court as the latter has initiated multiple allegations against Putin.

Six democratic and republic senators have sent a letter to Biden asking him to support the ICC, which issued a warrant for Putin’s arrest.

Biden has previously mentioned that Russia was conducting war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine. The letter has called on his administration to include efforts to hold people accountable.

Edited by Prakriti Arora