Russia said on Friday that the arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague against Russian President Vladimir Putin is meaningless, Reuters reported.

“The decisions of the International Criminal Court do not have any significance for our country, including from a legal point of view,” said the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, in her Telegram channel.

“Russia is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and has no obligations under it,” she said.

Kremlin spokesman Dmytro Peskov said that Russia considers the questions raised by the ICC to be “scandalous and unacceptable,” but noted that Russia, like many other countries, does not recognize the ICC’s jurisdiction.

“And accordingly, any such decision is null and void for the Russian Federation from a legal point of view,” he said.

Answering the question whether Putin is now afraid to go to countries that have recognized the ISS and that may try to arrest him because of it, Peskov told reporters: “I have nothing to add on this topic. That’s all we want to say.”

Russia signed the Rome Statute in 2000, but never ratified it to become a member of the ICC, and finally withdrew its signature in 2016.

At the time, Russia was under international pressure over Ukraine’s unilateral seizure and annexation of Crimea in 2014, as well as a campaign of airstrikes in Syria to support President Bashar al-Assad’s war against rebels.

Moscow has repeatedly denied allegations that its forces committed atrocities during the invasion of Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of war crimes committed in Ukraine, Reuters reports.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin on suspicion of illegal deportation of children and illegal transfer of people from the territory of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.

Reuters reported earlier this week that the court is expected to issue warrants, the first in an investigation into the conflict in Ukraine.

Separately, the court issued warrants for Maria Lviv-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights, on the same charges.

What is the Rome Statute?

The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (often called the Statute of the International Criminal Court or the Rome Statute) is the treaty that established the International Criminal Court (ICC). It was adopted at a diplomatic conference in Rome on July 17, 1998 and entered into force on July 1, 2002. The International Tribunal is responsible for four main crimes: genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and crimes of aggression.

Neither Ukraine nor Russia were parties to the Rome Statute and did not ratify its founding text.