US President Joe Biden said on Friday that Russian President Vladimir Putin has clearly committed war crimes and the International Criminal Court's (ICC) decision to issue an arrest warrant for him was justified.
The ICC earlier on Friday called for Putin's arrest on suspicion of unlawful deportation of children and unlawful transfer of people from Ukraine to Russia since Moscow's invasion began of its neighbour last year, reports Reuters. The United States is not a member of the ICC.
"He's clearly committed war crimes," Biden told reporters, referring to Putin.
"Well, I think it's justified," Biden added, referring to the warrant. "But the question is - it's not recognized internationally by us either. But I think it makes a very strong point."
The United States separately has concluded that Russian forces have committed war crimes in Ukraine and supports accountability for perpetrators of war crimes, a State Department spokesperson said in an emailed statement.
"There is no doubt that Russia is committing war crimes and atrocities (in) Ukraine, and we have been clear that those responsible must be held accountable," the spokesperson added. "This was a decision the ICC prosecutor reached independently based on the facts before him."
The ICC move obligates the court's 123 member states to arrest Putin and transfer him to The Hague for trial if he sets foot on their territory. The ICC also issued a warrant on Friday for Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia's commissioner for children's rights, on the same charges.
A US-backed report by Yale University researchers last month said Russia has held at least 6,000 Ukrainian children in at least 43 camps and other facilities as part of a "large-scale systematic network."
Kremlin dismisses ICC warrant for Putin
The Kremlin said Friday that the International Criminal Court's decision to issue an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin was legally "void" since Moscow does not recognize the Hague-based court's jurisdiction.
Top Russian officials and propagandists seethed with anger, while members of the opposition hailed the move, reports AFP.
"Russia, just like a number of different countries, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court and so from a legal point of view, the decisions of this court are void," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
Russia is not a member of the ICC.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the decisions of the ICC "have no meaning" for Russia.
"Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it," she said on Telegram.
"Russia does not cooperate with this body and possible 'recipes' for arrest coming from the international court will be legally void as far as we are concerned," Zakharova said, without referring to Putin by name.
Russia's former president Dmitry Medvedev also took to Twitter, likening the warrant to toilet paper.