The International Criminal Court is expected to seek the arrest of Russian officials for forcibly deporting children from Ukraine and targeting civilian infrastructure, a source said on Monday, in what would be the first international war crimes cases arising from Moscow's invasion.
The source said the arrest warrants could include the crime of genocide and were expected to arrive in the "short term," if the court prosecutor's request was approved by a pre-trial judge at the Hague-based court. Moscow would be certain to reject any arrest warrants against any of its officials. But an international war crimes prosecution could deepen Moscow's diplomatic isolation and make it difficult for those accused to travel abroad.
Russia has not concealed a program under which it has brought thousands of Ukrainian children to Russia, but presents it as a humanitarian campaign to protect orphans and children abandoned in the conflict zone. The UN genocide convention defines "forcibly transferring children of the group to another group" as one of five acts that can be prosecuted as genocide.
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