Portugal would assume its responsibilities and arrest the Russian president if he were to travel to the country, the foreign minister assured today in Brussels, adding that he expected the same from the other 122 signatories of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
At a press conference at the end of a Foreign Affairs Council meeting, João Gomes Cravinho answered in the affirmative when asked if Portugal would arrest Vladimir Putin if he traveled to the country after the ICC issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president last Friday for war crimes in Ukraine.
“Yes. And this is also our expectation with regard to the other 122 countries that are signatories” to the ICC, he said.
Recalling that “there are 123 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute, the founding statute of the ICC, and these 123 countries have as one of their responsibilities to respond to any arrest warrant,” the minister stressed that “Portugal assumes its responsibilities as a signatory” to the ICC.
Last Friday, the ICC issued an arrest warrant against the Russian president for war crimes, in particular for his alleged involvement in the abduction of children in Ukraine.
In its request for Putin’s arrest, the ICC’s chief prosecutor cited the deportation of “at least hundreds of children from Ukrainian orphanages and children’s institutions” to Russia.
The arrest warrant against the Kremlin leader was described by Russia as “legally null and void” because the country does not recognize the legitimacy of the ICC.
Referring to today’s Council meeting in Brussels – initially only at the level of the 27 heads of diplomacy, and in the afternoon with a joint meeting with the defense ministers – João Gomes Cravinho pointed out that support for Ukraine was naturally the main item on the agenda, in what was the first meeting of EU foreign ministers since the first anniversary of the start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, marked on February 24.
One of the issues addressed, he said, was “the need to reconcile sanctions […] with the imperatives of food security for the poorest countries,” commenting then on the compromise reached last Saturday to extend the agreement to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, but this time for only 60 days, at Russia’s insistence.
“We welcome the extension of the Black Sea grain initiative, while expressing great concern that the extension was only for two months, which shows a willingness on the part of Russia to try to use the weapon of food security or food insecurity to its own advantage,” he said.
Russia clarified on Saturday that it had agreed to an extension of the agreement to export Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea, but only for 60 days, not 120 as Kiev had said.
Last Wednesday, Turkey announced that it was negotiating with Ukraine and Russia for a new 120-day extension of the grain deal, instead of the 60 days announced by Moscow.
The agreement, which was approved in July 2022 under the mediation of the UN and Turkey, was last extended last November and was due to expire last Saturday.
The agreement has facilitated the export of 25 million tons of grain on more than 1,600 merchant ship voyages since last July. Fifty-five percent of that food went to developing countries.
