The International Criminal Court in The Hague has become a puppet in the hands of the collective West, the warrant for the "arrest" of Russian President Vladimir Putin serves to put pressure on Russia, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
"In this situation, we believe that this international body is essentially a puppet in the hands of the so-called collective West, which uses it for its own purposes in order to further increase pressure on our country. This will not work," Peskov said in an interview with the ATV channel from Republika Srpska, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
He said some states that lack sovereignty "may hypothetically be interested in fulfilling this order" if given the opportunity. However, according to Peskov, this is hard to imagine.
President Putin will attend the BRICS summit in August, hosted by South Africa. However, Moscow said in April that it would need to clarify South Africa's position on ICC membership in bilateral contacts.
Last week, South Africa's Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, told the country's parliament that the government was considering extending diplomatic immunity to visiting heads of state.
Under Article 98 of the Rome Statute, the ICC may not issue a request for surrender or assistance that would require a requested State to act in violation of its obligations under international law with respect to the immunity of a person or property of a third State, unless the Court can secure the cooperation of the third State to waive the immunity.
In mid-March, the Hague-based ICC issued an arrest warrant for Russian leader Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the country's commissioner for children's rights, for allegedly illegally transferring children out of the combat zone in Ukraine.
The Russian side has repeatedly said that children living in the combat zone were transported voluntarily for their safety and that many of those from areas now secure have been already returned to their homes.
Moreover, the Russian government stated that Moscow was not a party to the International Criminal Court and that the court's decision was legally null and void for the country.