Hague court issues arrest warrant for russian president, Vučić says he won’t arrest Putin

Serbia is one of the 123 countries that have pledged to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC), which two days ago issued a warrant for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

As one of the countries that legally committed to cooperate with the ICC back in 2009, Serbia would have to comply with this order if Putin sets foot on its soil.

Will they?

“Don’t get angry, the question of arrest is a pointless question, because it is clear to you that while the war is going on, Putin has nowhere to go, including Serbia.

“I have not arrested those who have been requested by an ad hoc court on the basis of a subpoena (a type of court order), this is not the ICC.

“You have these experts who put all the Serbs in sacks and sent them to The Hague, they can volunteer to help … As far as I and Serbia are concerned, we have better things to do at the moment”, Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia, replied to a question at a press conference in Belgrade on Sunday 19 March.

The International Criminal Court accuses Putin of being responsible for war crimes, including the illegal deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia, the court said.

The crimes were committed from 24 February 2022 and afterwards, when the Russian invasion of Ukraine began, the court added.

While Western leaders such as US President Joseph Biden, who says the court’s move is “justified”, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, who calls it “historic”, Moscow categorically rejects the ICC’s claims, calling them “outrageous”.

Russia is not a signatory to the cooperation agreement with the ICC and therefore this has no legal significance, said Maria Zakharova, spokeswoman for the Russian Foreign Ministry.

While world leaders react to the ICC’s decision, Putin is visiting parts of Ukraine that Russia has annexed, such as the Crimea peninsula, or places it seized during its more than year-long invasion.

On Sunday, he visited Mariupol, a port city in southern Ukraine that was seized by Russian forces after heavy fighting in the middle of last year.

Serbia is the only European country besides Belarus that has not imposed sanctions against Russia, but it has joined in condemning the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

What did Vucic have to say about the decision of the International Criminal Court?

That it is not wise, that it will contribute to the escalation of the conflict, and that it shows great reluctance to talk about peace, ceasefires and saving human lives.

“Having seen Biden, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and all the others commenting, I represent a sovereign country and I am therefore entitled to my opinion.

“This is a decision which, without going into legal matters, will have bad consequences.

“My question is – great, now you have accused him of war crimes, who are you going to talk to now (about peace)?” Or maybe you don’t want to talk? Or maybe you are not going to make peace, but you are all waiting for defeat, how many more years do we have to wait? Do you really think that Russia can be defeated in three months, six months or a year?”

The former President of Serbia and FR Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic, has been extradited to the International Court of Justice in The Hague, where he was held responsible for war crimes in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

Putin is one of the few world statesmen in history to have been arrested on war crimes charges.

Vucic says that the cases of Milosevic and Putin cannot be compared in any way, because Milosevic was the leader of a small country, while Putin was the leader of a large one.

“I am not sure that this was a wise enough decision and a cleverly calculated one.

“There is no doubt that the aim of those who did this is to make it difficult for the President of Russia to communicate, so that anyone who talks to him has in mind that they are talking to someone who is accused of the most serious acts, of war crimes, to further complicate Russia’s economic situation, to make it a global pariah. And I understood these political reasons.

“But the political reasons of preserving life and establishing peace are much more important than these political reasons,” Vucic said./BBC