Russia has accused the United States of “sluggish schizophrenia” as President Joe Biden expressed support for the International Criminal Court issuing a warrant for President Vladimir Putin’s arrest, despite the fact the U.S. does not recognise the court.
The Netherlands-based International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for President Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova, over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia — although executing the warrants could be difficult given Russia is not subject to the ICC.
U.S. President Joe Biden appeared to back the ICC in comments to reporters, saying its warrant for Putin “makes a very strong point” and that the Russian leader has “clearly committed war crimes” — before having to admit that the United States, like Russia, does not recognise the court’s authority.
The Russian Embassy in the United States has now responded to D.C.’s commentary on the warrants, calling the American position “reminiscent of sluggish schizophrenia.”
“We took notice of the statements of representatives of the U.S. administration on the alleged justification of the decision of the International Criminal Court to issue warrants of the arrest for President of the Russian Federation Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova,” began the strangely-worded Russian statement, which was posted on Telegram.
“For the sake of its own geopolitical interests Washington supports the unprecedented legal bacchanalia unleashed by the ICC, knowing full well that Russia, like the United States, does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC,” the statement continued.
“Allowing unacceptable remarks about the Russian leader, the U.S. authorities deliberately keep silent about their own atrocities in Iraq, Yugoslavia, Libya and Vietnam,” it went on, further alleging that the U.S. had taken “odious measures” to deter attempts to pursue its own citizens internationally, such as “unprecedented economic sanctions that were imposed on the leadership of the [International Criminal] Court, including ex-Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda, who initiated an investigation into U.S. atrocities in Afghanistan.”
This appears to be in reference to sanctions imposed by the Trump administration on Bensouda, from Gabmia, and another ICC official, Phakiso Mochochoko from Lesotho, over “efforts to investigate U.S. personnel”, which also saw restrictions imposed on visas for certain people involved in the investigation.
These sanctions have since been lifted by the Biden administration, however.
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