Dmitry Medvedev threatens to launch missile strike on ICC in response to war crimes warrant against Putin

Russian Security Council Deputy Chair Dmitry Medvedev lashed out at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Monday, warning on Telegram that Russia might respond to the body’s decision to issue an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin by launching a missile strike on its building in The Hague.

“The ICC judges got all worked up in vain. ‘Look,’ they said, ‘we’re brave, we’re not too chickenshit to raise a hand against the largest nuclear power.’ Alas, gentlemen, everyone walks under God and rockets. It’s not hard to imagine the targeted use of a hypersonic ‘Onyx’ from the North Sea from a Russian ship on the Hague courthouse,” wrote Medvedev.

The ICC issued the warrant for Putin’s arrest on Friday, March 17. The formal cause for the warrant is Putin’s alleged complicity in the illegal deportations of children from Ukraine’s occupied territories to Russia. The court also issued an arrest warrant against Russian Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova for her alleged role in the same crimes.