Russia says ICC warrant against Putin is meaningless

Russia said on Friday that an arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Russian President Vladimir Putin was meaningless.

"The decisions of the International Criminal Court have no meaning for our country, including from a legal point of view," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on her Telegram channel.

"Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and bears no obligations under it."

The Kremlin did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but never ratified it to become a member of the ICC, and finally withdrew its signature in 2016.

At the time, Russia was under international pressure over its seizure and unilateral annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, as well as a campaign of air strikes in Syria in support of President Bashar al-Assad's war against rebels.