The bombshell announcement on 17 March 2023 of ICC arrest warrants against Russian President Putin and his Children’s Rights Ombudswoman Lvova-Belova put an end to one-year long speculations about the first cases to be brought before the ICC in relation to Ukraine. Pre-Trial Chamber II (PTC II) found reasonable grounds to believe they committed war…

The unprovoked attack by Russia against Ukraine should be qualified as a crime against peace, or the crime of aggression, as defined in Article 6(a) of the IMT Charter and in Article 8bis of the ICC Statute. There are also allegations of war crimes as the Russian armed forces have targeted…

Part II of this post addresses the larger implications of the PTC’s decision. For part I discussing its treatment of the ‘interests of justice’, see here . Justice and pragmatism In my previous post, I argued that, as a result of the Pre-Trial Chamber’s incorrect interpretation of the ‘interests…