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RUSSIA - Russia’s top investigative body has opened a criminal case against the International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor and judges who issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin on war crimes charges.
The move was announced on Monday by the State investigative committee in another gesture of Russian defiance, three days after the ICC accused Putin and his children’s commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia.
A day after being accused, Putin made a surprise visit to the Russian-occupied Ukrainian city of Mariupol, the scene of some of the worst devastation of his year-old invasion of Ukraine.
Grounds
The committee said there were no grounds for criminal liability on Putin’s part, and heads of State enjoyed absolute immunity under a 1973 United Nations convention.
“The criminal prosecution is obviously illegal, since there are no grounds for criminal liability,” the Russian statement said.
The ICC prosecutor’s actions showed signs of being crimes under Russian law, the committee said, including knowingly accusing an innocent person of a crime.
The prosecutor and judges were also suspected of ‘preparing an attack on a representative of a foreign State enjoying international protection, in order treaetynthatacrneateodpthepICoCs. to complicate international relations’.
The Kremlin has called the issuing of the ICC warrant outrageous but legally void, as Russia is not a signatory to the
KENYA - Kenyan police tear-gassed the leader of the opposition on Monday and arrested senior lawmakers in his parliamentary faction, as protesters took to the streets to march against President William Ruto and the high cost of living.
The convoy of Raila Odinga, who was defeated by Ruto last year in his fifth straight election as the runner-up, was repeatedly sprayed with teargas as he addressed supporters from the sunroof of his car.
Odinga has called for nationwide protests as he attempts to harness dissatisfaction with the president. At least four Members of Parliament were arrested during protests in Nairobi, including the minority leaders of the National Assembly and Senate, Odinga’s spokesman, Dennis Onyango, said.
Police officers in riot gear fired teargas at hundreds of rock-throwing protesters in the capital Nairobi’s vast Kibera slum, who chanted: “Ruto must go. We are suffering and tired of this Ruto regime. We’ve had enough,” said one protester, who asked not to be identified, as tea gas swirled around her. The discontented include some of those who voted for Ruto and feel he has not delivered on pledges to help the country’s forgotten ‘hustlers’, or working-class Kenyans.
RUSSIA - A shaky-looking Vladimir Putin praised his ‘dear friend’ President Xi Jinping while he gripped the arms of his chair during the Chinese leader’s visit to Moscow yesterday.
Putin appeared to be trembling and clutching his seat as he welcomed Xi to the Kremlin today for a three-day visit in a sign that the 70-year-old’s health is continuing to deteriorate.
The Russian despot said he was willing to discuss Beijing’s plan to end the war in Ukraine - a move that has been met with scepticism in Kyiv and the West, with world leaders questioning the real motive behind Beijing’s plan for peace.
‘‘We are always open to negotiations,’’ Putin told Xi during the visit, which came mere days after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for the Russian despot over war crimes in Ukraine. ‘‘We will certainly discuss all these issues, including your initiatives which we treat with respect, of course.’’
Proposals
China has not offered any concrete proposals to end the war other than a 12-point ‘peace plan,’ which included calling for an end to Western sanctions, negotiations that would see Ukraine ceding territory, a NATO pullback from its eastern borders and reconstruction efforts that are likely to benefit Chinese contractors.
And despite its calls for peace, Beijing
has continued to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Russia and parroted the Kremlin’s talking points about NATO expansionism.
Indeed, Xi cosied up to Putin yesterday and stroked the Russian leader’s ego by saying he was ‘convinced’ the despot enjoyed the Russian people’s support ahead of a presidential election scheduled for next year.
‘‘I know Russia will hold a presidential election,’’ Xi told Putin in Mandarin.
‘‘Under your strong leadership, Russia has made great strides in its prosperous development,’’ Xi gushed. ‘‘I am confident that the Russian people will continue to give you their firm support.’’