OWN RULES

Putin Pulls Out of War-Crimes Court

Over ICC’s Crimea resolution.

President Vladimir Putin announced Wednesday that Russia will pull out of the International Criminal Court. The body, which exists to try war crimes, had issued a report calling Russia’s annexation of Crimea an “international military conflict.” The resolution condemned Russia’s “temporary occupation of Crimea,” in addition to noting human-rights abuses, including discrimination against Crimeans. Putin has ordered the Russian foreign ministry to inform the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon that it is no longer a party to the Rome Statute of the ICC. In addition to the Crimean annexation, a withdrawal would release Russia from international obligations in Syria, where the U.K.—among others—has requested a probe of alleged Russian war crimes during its bombing campaign in Aleppo.