Putin's arrest would be a 'declaration of war'

UPDATE DAY

An arrest of Vladimir Putin by a foreign country following the arrest warrant issued last week by the International Criminal Court would amount to “declaring war” on Moscow, a senior Russian official has warned.< /p>

“Let's imagine the thing (…) The head of state of a nuclear power goes, say, for example, to Germany and is arrested. What is that ? A declaration of war against Russia”, ex-president Dmitry Medvedev, current number 2 of the Russian Security Council, declared on Wednesday evening.

If this happens, then “all our capabilities, missiles and others will fall on the Bundestag, the chancellor's office and so on,” added Mr. Medvedev, accustomed to sensational declarations.

This graphic warning comes after the ICC, based in La Hague, last week issued an arrest warrant for Mr. Putin for the war crime of “deporting” Ukrainian children as part of Moscow's offensive against Ukraine.

On Wednesday, the ICC denounced the “threats” emanating from Moscow against it, after Russian justice announced that it was opening a criminal investigation against several of its judges and its prosecutor, Karim Khan.

Earlier this week, Mr. Medvedev had already threatened the ICC with a missile strike, inviting his magistrates to “look carefully at the sky”.

Russia, q which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, called the arrest warrant for Mr. Putin “null and void”.