Here's what we know about the International Criminal Court and why it's issuing an arrest warrant for Putin (2024)

The International Criminal Court, which operates independently, is located in The Hague, Netherlands, and was created by a treaty called the Rome Statute first brought before the United Nations.

Most countries on Earth – 123 of them – are parties to the treaty, but there are some notable exceptions, including Russia, as well as the US, Ukraine and China.

The ICC is meant to be a court of “last resort” and is not supposed to replace a country’s justice system. The court, which has 18 judges serving nine-year terms, tries four types of crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and war crimes.

Putin arrest warrant: The ICC on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian PresidentVladimir Putinand the Russian commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, for an alleged scheme to deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

The court said there “are reasonable grounds to believe thatMr Putinbears individual criminal responsibility” for the alleged crimes, for having committed them directly alongside others, and for “his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts.”

Reports of Ukrainian children in Russia: The Ukrainian government says many missing children have been forcibly taken to Russia. The Russian government doesn’t deny taking Ukrainian children and has made their adoption by Russian families a centerpiece of propaganda.

Some of the children have ended up thousands of miles and several time zones away from Ukraine. According to Lvova-Belova's office, Ukrainian kids have been sent to live in institutions and with foster families in 19 different Russian regions, including Novosibirsk, Omsk and Tyumen regions in Siberia and Murmansk in the Arctic.

In April 2022, the office of Lvova-Belova said that around 600 children from Ukraine had been placed in orphanages in Kursk and Nizhny Novgorod before being sent to live with families in the Moscow region. As of mid-October, 800 children from Ukraine’s eastern Donbas area were living in the Moscow region, many with families, according to the Moscow regional governor.

UN report on alleged war crimes: The UN on Thursday said in a report that war crimes perpetrated by Russia included “attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, wilful killings, unlawful confinement, torture, rape and other sexual violence, as well as unlawful transfers and deportations of children.”

So, will Putin actually be arrested?: Probably not.

Anyone accused of a crime in the jurisdiction of the court, which includes countries that are members of the ICC, can be tried. The court tries people, not countries, and focuses on those who hold the most responsibility: leaders and officials. While Ukraine is not a member of the court, it has previously accepted its jurisdiction.

The ICCdoes not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin would either have to be handed over by Russia or arrested outside of Russia. That seems unlikely.

CNN's editorial research department contributed to this post.

Hungary’s ruling party plans to approve Finland’s accession to NATO in a vote later this month, it said in a statement Friday.

The parliamentary vote will take place March 27, and the group will vote unanimously in support of Finland's bid, the leader of the ruling Fidesz Party, Máté Kocsis, said in a statement.

Kocsis said the group would decide later on Sweden’s case for joining the military alliance.

Turkey, which announced earlier Friday that it would approve Finland's membership, and Hungary have been the holdouts blocking both Nordic nations' accession.

Western officials had generally considered getting Turkey's blessing the most significant hurdle to NATO expansion.

More background: Finland announced its intention to join NATO in May, along with Sweden, after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine caused a sudden shift in attitudes toward joining the bloc.

That announcement was welcomed by almost all of NATO’s leaders, but under NATO rules just one member state can veto a new applicant’s membership.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan put a spoke in the wheel when he said he was not looking at both countries joining NATO “positively,” accusing them of housing Kurdish “terrorist organizations."

Friday’s announcement clears the way for Finland’s accession, but Sweden’s application has been stalled by Ankara’s accusations, which Sweden denies.

CNN's Yusuf Gezer, Amy Cassidy and Jack Guy contributed to this report.

The Kremlin has called the International Criminal Court's decision to issue arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russia’s children commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova “outrageous and unacceptable."

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and Deputy Chair of the Security Council of Russia, also dismissed the warrant in a tweet.

Russia's Ambassador to the United Nations Vassily Nebenzia also condemned the ICC as a "prejudiced, biased, and incompetent internal body."

Nebenzia called the war crimes court a puppet of the large Western countries and said since Russia is not a party to the ICC's Rome statutes, the court's decision to issue the arrest warrants was null and void.

Located in The Hague, Netherlands, and created by a treaty called the Rome Statute first brought before the United Nations, the ICC operates independently. Most countries are parties to the treaty — but there are very large and notable exceptions, including Russia.

This means for the trials to move ahead, Russian officials charged would either have to be handed over by Moscow or arrested outside of Russia.

CNN's Richard Roth contributed reporting.

Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s children commissioner, dismissed an arrest warrant issued against her and Russian President Vladimir Putin by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Lvova-Belova is the official at the center of the alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

In response, Lvova-Belova said it is “great” that the international community has noticed her work, according to Russian state news agency TASS on Friday.

Key background: According to the US and several European governments,Putin's administration forcibly deported thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, often to a network of dozens of camps, where the minors undergo political reeducation.

“Lvova-Belova’s efforts specifically include the forced adoption of Ukrainian children into Russian families, the so-called ‘patriotic education’ of Ukrainian children, legislative changes to expedite the provision of Russian Federation citizenship to Ukrainian children, and the deliberate removal of Ukrainian children by Russia’s forces,” the US Treasury said in September.

CNN's Hira Humayun contributed reporting to this post.

Human Rights Watch called the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin a “wakeup call to others committing abuses or covering them up” in a statement on Friday.

“This is a big day for the many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014. With these arrest warrants, the ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long,” saidBalkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch.

The ICC issued the arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the official at the center of thealleged schemeto forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Russian government does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC in The Hague, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said Tuesday, according to state news agency TASS.

Russia withdrew from the ICC treaty under a directive signed by Putin in 2016.

It's been a busy day of developments related to the war in Ukraine, with Russian President Vladimir Putin getting an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court, additional details released about the upcoming meeting between the Russian leader and his Chinese counterpart, and an announcement of more fighter jets for Ukraine.

As nighttime approaches in Kyiv, catch up on what's happened so far:

ICC issues arrest warrant for Putin: The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian official at the center of thealleged schemeto forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Moscow said the court has “no meaning” for the country as Ukrainian officials praised the announcement. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s Chief of Staff, Andri Yermak, said the arrest warrant is “just the beginning.”

Turkey, Finland and NATO: Turkey has decided to start the process of ratifying Finland's accession to NATO, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said. Finland — along with Sweden — both announced theirintention to join NATOin May, dropping decades of neutrality after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

While Finnish President Sauli Niinistö welcomed Turkey’s decision, he said its membership is “not complete” without Sweden.

Putin and Xi will meet: Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping plan to discuss the war in Ukraine and will sign documents attesting to their closer ties when they meet in Moscow next week, a Putin adviser told Russian state media.

US officials said they will be eyeing the meeting closely as China considers sending weapons to Russia. US officials also said they are working to get Xi on the phone withZelensky, believing that hearing directly from him would be important for perspective.

More fighter jets for Kyiv: Slovakia announced it will send 13 MiG-29 fighter jets to Ukraine, making it the second NATO member to pledge the aircraft after Poland said on Thursday that it would transfer four of the jets to Ukraine in the coming days

Situation in Bakhmut: A Ukrainian soldier said that Russian forces have been “partially exhausted” in some parts of the battered eastern city of Bakhmut, but the intensity of fighting is still "extremely high."

According to the UK's defense ministry, while Russian and Wagner forces have obtained footholds west of the Bakhmutka River in the center of the city, "more broadly across the front line, Russia is conducting some of the lowest rates of local offensive action" since at least January.

Meanwhile, Wagner head Yevgeny Prigozhin repeated his complaints of inadequate munitions supplies from Russia.

Here's the latest map of control:

Moscow rejects an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Russian President Vladimir Putin, a government spokesperson said Friday.

The ICC also issued a warrant for Maria Lvova-Belova, the official at the center of an alleged scheme to forcibly deport thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The warrants have “no meaning” for Russia, including from a “legal point of view,” said Maria Zakharova, spokesperson for Russia's Foreign Ministry.

How war crime prosecutions work: Located in The Hague, Netherlands, and created by atreaty called the Rome Statute, the International Criminal Court operates independently.

Most countries on Earth are parties to the treaty, but there are very large and notable exceptions, including —pivotally — Russia, the US and Ukraine.

Anyone accused of a crime in the jurisdiction of the court, which includes countries that are members of the ICC, can be tried. The court tries people, not countries, and focuses on those who hold the most responsibility: leaders and officials.

While Ukraine is not a member of the court, it has previously accepted its jurisdiction.

However, the ICCdoes not conduct trials in absentia, so Putin or any other Moscow official would either have to be handed over by Russia or arrested outside of Russia to face ICC proceedings.

You can read more about how the court functions here.

With previous reporting from CNN's Zachary B. Wolf.

Finnish President Sauli Niinistö welcomed Turkey’s decision to begin the ratification process of Finland’s application to NATO, but said its membership is “not complete” without Sweden.

The two countries launched joint membership bids for the US-led alliance in the summer of last year.

“It is very good to hear this news,” Niinistö told reporters in Ankara on Friday, speaking alongside Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “It is surely for all of Finland very important [...] so thank you."

The Nordic neighbors have many “common interests” and share the Baltic Sea shore, Niinistö continued, saying he would like to see Sweden become part of the alliance by the time members meet in Vilnius for the annual NATO summit in July.

Erdogan said a the news conference on Friday that Turkey’s approach towards Sweden remains the same, and that it would not change unless “positive steps” were taken.

“We handed Sweden a list of 120 terrorists and demand repatriation, which failed to deliver,” Erdogan said, adding, “what matters for us is the result. And as long as we don’t see the results in compacting terrorism or even to the point of infiltrating into their parliament, our approach would be as it is today”.

The arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court for Russian President Vladimir Putin is "just the beginning," Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, posted on Telegram.

TheICCannounced Friday that it had issued arrest warrantsfor Putinand Maria Lvova-Belova, an official at the center of an alleged scheme toforcibly deportthousands of Ukrainian children to Russia.

Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Dmytro Kuleba also applauded the warrant, saying the "wheels of justice are turning."

With the warrant, "the world has received a signal that the Russian regime is criminal and that its leadership and accomplices will be brought to justice," Ukrainian General Prosecutor Andriy Kostin said in a post on Facebook Friday."This means that Putin must be arrested outside of Russia and brought to trial. And world leaders will think twice before shaking his hand or sitting down with him at the negotiating table."

Kostin called the move a historic decision and said he was personally grateful to the ICC.

"In particular, regarding forced deportation of children, [the] Prosecutor General's Office has submitted more than 40 volumes of materials to the ICC — more than 1000 pages,” he added."Today's decision is a historic step. But it is only the beginning of a long journey to restore justice."