Ukraine reminds Turkmenistan of ICC arrest warrant for Putin

Ukraine has expressed its hope that Turkmenistan's leadership is fully aware that Russian President Vladimir Putin is a war criminal with an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against him for unlawful forced deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

This statement was made by Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs ahead of Putin’s scheduled visit to Turkmenistan on Friday, October 11, Ukrinform reports.

"Ukraine hopes that the leadership of Turkmenistan realizes that Putin is a war criminal for whom an arrest warrant had been issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the unlawful deportation and transfer of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation. This is just one of a whole series of crimes by the Kremlin leadership. Putin and his accomplices are responsible for the crime of aggression against Ukraine, war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, murder, torture, rape, looting, shelling of civilian infrastructure and other atrocities committed by the Russian occupiers on the territory of Ukraine. All of them must be brought to justice for crimes committed against the Ukrainian people," stated the Ministry.

The Ministry further highlighted that Russian occupiers are continuing daily brutal attacks on Ukrainian towns and villages, causing extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and claiming civilian lives.

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“We call on all countries that value human life, respect international law and the UN Charter to refrain from holding joint events with the participation of Putin, who had unleashed a war in Europe on a scale not seen since World War II, and whose hands are up to the elbows in blood,” added the Ministry.

The Ministry also called on all countries and international organizations to maximize their efforts in implementing the Peace Formula as the only effective path toward ending Russian aggression and achieving comprehensive, just, and lasting peace in Ukraine and across Europe.

On October 11, Putin is scheduled to visit Turkmenistan to attend an international forum commemorating the 300th anniversary of prominent Turkmen poet Magtymguly Pyragy.

As reported by Ukrinform, in early September, Putin met with his Mongolian counterpart in Ulaanbaatar, marking his first visit to a member country of the International Criminal Court (ICC) since the court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader last year.