Medvedev: Arresting Putin abroad Equals to Declare Nuclear War on Russia

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy head of the Russian Security Council, warned that the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin abroad is "equivalent to declaring a nuclear war on Russia," commenting on the International Criminal Court's issuance of an arrest warrant against Putin last Friday.

Medvedev added - in a meeting today, Thursday, with a group of journalists - that the decisions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) have no value.

Last Friday, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Putin, accusing him of committing a war crime by deporting hundreds of children from Ukraine without legal basis.

Moscow rejects this accusation, describing the court's move as unacceptable, and said it has no legal force in Russia, which is not a member of this court.

Moscow said last Monday that it had opened a criminal investigation against the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Karim Khan, and a number of the court's judges regarding the "illegal" decision related to the issuance of an arrest warrant for Putin over the war in Ukraine.