Russia Not Obligated To Cooperate With ICC On Ukraine 'Investigation' - Foreign Ministry

Fahad Shabbir (@FahadShabbir) Published April 30, 2022 | 12:23 AM

Russia is not obligated to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with its "investigation" in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said

MOSCOW (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 29th April, 2022) Russia is not obligated to cooperate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in connection with its "investigation" in Ukraine, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said.

According to her, Moscow drew attention to the prosecutor's office of the International Criminal Court joining on April 25 the Joint Investigation Group of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine, created under the auspices of Eurojust.

"As for the ICC prosecutor's office, this move demonstrates that it does not even try to maintain at least a semblance of impartiality and objectivity, and enthusiastically joins the process, in which the perpetrators are clearly appointed in advance. If anyone else had doubts that the ICC was a body fulfilling political orders and having nothing to do with independent justice, the new 'creative' format of work makes everything extremely clear," Zakharova said in a statement.

She noted that the composition of the investigation team suggested that nothing but denigration of Russia could be expected.

"We remind you that Russia does not participate in the Rome Statute of the ICC and is not obligated to cooperate with it. Nevertheless, we will continue to closely monitor how this body operates," Zakharova added.

Human rights organizations of the DPR and LPR sent a solid array of data to the ICC more than 3,000 materials on crimes against the people of Donbas, but so far there has not been any clear reaction from the Hague justice to the facts presented, she added.