British authorities' fingerprints are all over the ICC's decision to issues arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said.
"On February 21, 2023, ICC Judge Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua from the Democratic Republic of the Congo was replaced in the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber by Costa Rican (and Oxford graduate) Sergio Gerardo Ugalde Godinez, who was eager to serve the West. After this occurred, the British lobby gained the upper hand in the chamber. But a personal factor was needed - absolute control over the decisions of the ICC by the British," Zakharova wrote in a long, detective story-style post on her Telegram page on Thursday.
According to the spokeswoman, in an interesting "coincidence," the same day, "the brother of ICC prosecutor Karim Khan, former member of British parliament Imran Khan, who was accused of pedophilia, was released from an English prison ahead of schedule, serving only half his term."
"The next step was logical and predictable. On February 22, literally the next day, Prosecutor Khan's appeal [on Putin and Lvova-Belova's arrest warrants, ed.] was sent to the Pretrial Chamber with a request for approval. One cannot help but get the impression that Karim Khan himself did not believe London and was waiting for confirmation of the promise to release his pedophile brother from prison," Zakharova wrote.
But nothing happened, with the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber hesitating.
"Then," the spokeswoman noted, "London organized a donor conference for the ICC and set a date - March 20, transparently hinting to the Hague that if it wants to see British contributions, results are needed. Judges are easy to buy. On March 17, four days after the announcement of the donor conference and three days before it was held, the ICC issued" the warrants against Putin and Lvova-Belova.
