Putin “is allegedly responsible for the war crime of illegal deportation of the population [de niños] and the illegal transfer of population [de niños] from the occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation,” the court said.
“The crimes would have been committed on Ukrainian territory occupied at least since February 24, 2022,” the court continued.
There are “reasonable grounds to believe that Putin is personally responsible for the aforementioned crimes,” it added.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan declared this month after a visit to Ukraine that the alleged child abductions were the subject of “priority investigation.”
The court, created in 2002 to judge the worst crimes committed in the world, has been investigating for more than a year possible war crimes or crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine during the Russian offensive.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members of the ICC, but kyiv accepted the court’s jurisdiction over its territory and works with the prosecutor.
Russia claimed that the arrest warrant is meaningless.
“The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, not even from a legal point of view,” Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel.
“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligation under it,” it added.
Experts admitted that Moscow was unlikely to hand over the suspects to the court. Russia rejects the war crimes accusations.