The State Duma is preparing to ban the activities of the ICC in Russia

State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin held a meeting on Monday to prepare amendments banning the International Criminal Court (ICC) from operating in Russia. The meeting was attended by Vice Speaker of the Lower House Irina Yarovaya and Chairmen of the Duma Committees on Security and Defense Vasily Piskarev and Andrey Kartapolov. “Profile committees of the State Duma are preparing amendments to the law “On Security”, which will prohibit the activities of the International Criminal Court and international bodies on our territory directed against the Russian Federation and its citizens,” Mr. Volodin said after the meeting. He noted that the bans will also affect public calls for the execution of decisions of international courts and cooperation with them. To this end, amendments to the Criminal Code and the Code of Criminal Procedure are being prepared.

Recall, on March 17, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin and the Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Russian Federation Maria Lvova-Belova in the case of “illegal export of children” from Ukraine. In response, Moscow stated that Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC and does not recognize its decision.

At the same time, the initiative of the speaker of the State Duma on Monday was criticized by Andrey Klishas, ​​Chairman of the Federation Council Committee on Constitutional Legislation and State Building. “The ICC is a quasi-judicial corrupt structure with no legal basis. Reacting legislatively to the PR campaigns of the ICC and others like it is an empty and meaningless undertaking, ”he wrote in his Telegram channel. At the same time, the senator recalled that back in 2022, an amendment was made to the Duma in the Criminal Code, introducing responsibility for actions to enforce anti-Russian sanctions on the territory of the Russian Federation. But it “has not yet been considered in the presence of a positive conclusion of the Supreme Court,” Mr. Klishas emphasized. In his opinion, Russian banks should be subject to criminal liability, for example, which “on the basis of Western sanctions, refused to work with sanctioned organizations and individuals when these individuals were asked to close their accounts, when many refused to work in Crimea due to sanctions.” “Although it is certainly safer to fight against “calls”, Andrei Klishas summed up. Ksenia Veretennikova