Putin signs bill banning implementation of foreign criminal court rulings in Russia

Vladimir Putin has signed legislation blocking the enforcement of rulings by foreign criminal courts in Russia, as well by international judicial bodies whose authority is not based on a treaty with Moscow or a UN Security Council resolution, state-affiliated broadcaster RBC reported on Monday.

The law, which states that decisions by courts created by foreign states or international associations without Russia’s participation will not be recognised or executed, amends an existing law that previously permitted the implementation of foreign court rulings in Russia under international agreements.

The law will apply to rulings made by bodies such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), from which Russia withdrew in 2016. In 2023, the ICC issued arrest warrants for both Putin and his Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova over their role in the illegal deportation of Ukrainian children from occupied areas of eastern Ukraine to Russia – warrants the Kremlin has dismissed as legally null and void.

The move also comes amid efforts by EU states and the Council of Europe to set up a special tribunal to prosecute Russian officials for crimes committed during the ongoing invasion and occupation of Ukraine. 

“We will not stop until Russia is held fully accountable and justice is done,” said Alain Berset, the Council of Europe’s Secretary General. Moscow, which left the Council of Europe in 2022, has rejected the initiative as illegitimate.

The Russian authorities have meanwhile indicted ICC prosecutor Karim Khan alongside several other ICC judges in absentia. Some legal scholars have warned that the amended Russian law could undermine existing international treaties to which Russia continues to be a signatory as well as undermine international legal cooperation in criminal cases.