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Blinken: European countries that are parties to the International Criminal Court should arrest Putin if he visits them

Blinken: European countries that are parties to the International Criminal Court

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that every European country that is a party to the International Criminal Court (ICC) should arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he visits.

"I think anyone who is a party to the court and has obligations should meet their obligations, " Blinken said in response to a question from Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham at a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing.

"I don't think he has any plans to travel here anytime soon ," Blinken said.

Putin has barely left Russia in recent years, and he has not traveled to the US since 2015.

Last week, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin for his role in a widespread Kremlin-wide effort to forcibly deport Ukrainian children to Russia.

A report released in mid-February by the U.S. State Department-backed Conflict Observatory of the Yale Humanitarian Laboratory found that more than 6,000 children — ranging in age from just months to 17 years old — have been in Russian custody in some point during the course of the war, although "the total number of children is unknown and is likely to be considerably higher than 6,000".

 

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