Legal aspects of the "Putin case" and the limits to the effectiveness of international criminal jurisdiction

Abstract

The present article, based on theoretical research and using the deductive method, aims to analyze legal issues related to the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin, the current President of the Russian Federation, and Maria Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights in that country, during the investigations of alleged war crimes committed in the context of the invasion of Ukraine, which began in February 2022. We will begin with a brief contextualization of that armed conflict, pointing out the reasons indicated in the reasoning of the decision taken by the Court. Next, we will analyze the ICC's jurisdiction to judge those responsible for crimes committed during the war in Ukraine, as well as whether the decision regarding the investigated individuals Putin and Belova meets the main requirements defined in the Rome Statute and if the mentioned arrest warrants are mandatory for the signatory countries of that international treaty to comply with. Finally, we will address the difficulties that make the execution of the decision unlikely, and what this reveals about the current stage of development of international criminal jurisdiction.