Russia sanctions ICC prosecutor, UK ministers

MOSCOW: Russia announced sanctions on Friday on the International Criminal Court prosecutor, who is seeking the arrest of President Vladimir Putin, as well as British ministers who have fiercely opposed Moscow´s offensive in Ukraine.

The foreign ministry denounced the “unwavering military support from London” to Kyiv and “the aggressive implementation... of a hostile anti-Russian policy”, after almost a year and a half of conflict in Ukraine.

The ICC´s Karim Khan, who is British, issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March on the accusation of having unlawfully deported Ukrainian children. Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, insists the warrant against Putin is “void”.

The ICC said in May it was “undeterred” after Russia put prosecutor Khan on a wanted list over his issuance of the arrest warrant. A total of 54 people have been added to Russia´s sanctions list targeting British citizens, Russia said.

They include sports minister Lucy Fraser “who is actively pushing for the international sporting isolation of Russia, and the British Deputy Defence Minister Annabel Goldie, who is responsible for delivering weapons to Ukraine,” the statement read.

Also sanctioned are British journalists from the BBC, the Guardian and the Daily Telegraph, accused by Moscow of being “involved” in “disseminating false information” about Russia and in “supporting information and propaganda activities” by Kyiv. Since the outbreak of the conflict in Ukraine in February 2022, London has been one of Kyiv´s main financial and military supporters.