Let us imagine the situation: Putin arrives in Belarus on a visit. We know that on March 17, 2023, the International Criminal Court in The Hague issued a warrant for Putin's arrest. What will Lukashenko do in this case? The answer is obvious... Or is it?
To begin with, a little background history, to refresh your memory.
As you know, Vladimir Putin is accused of committing a war crime - the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia.
On April 10, the NAM team declared Lukashenko's involvement in the illegal transfer of Ukrainian children. Based on the facts, documents and other evidence of the dictator's involvement in this crime, we have prepared and handed over to the Ukrainian side and other international partners a preliminary report "Role of the Lukashenko regime, Russia and the Union State in the illegal displacement and re-education of Ukrainian children". We are not publishing it in the public domain at this time for information protection reasons, but we will certainly do so later.
Subsequently, on April 27, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe adopted a resolution clearly noting the involvement of the Lukashenko regime in war crimes against Ukrainian children. On May 4, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine also issued an appeal to foreign countries to condemn the crimes of forced deportation of Ukrainian children committed by the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, in which the role of Lukashenko in committing this crime is clearly indicated. Finally, the fact of illegal transfer of Ukrainian children to the Republic of Belarus was also noted in the report of the special mechanism within the OSCE, which qualified the deportation of children from Ukraine, including to the territory of Belarus, as a war crime.
U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter commented on the OSCE report as follows:
«The Lukashenko regime is an accomplice to Russia in the war, not only because it allowed the use of Belarusian territory to attack Ukraine and its infrastructure to train and rotate Russian troops, but also because children forcibly deported from the occupied Ukrainian territories are brought to Belarus».
The documents listed above: the PACE resolution, the appeal of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the OSCE report are three big steps towards our goal - issuing an International Criminal Court arrest warrant for Lukashenko. We are moving steadily towards it.
This is very difficult and painstaking work, which is the focus of our activities today. Whenever possible, we try to actively cover it and share with you additional information, important points and facts that emerge in the course of this work. There are a few of these points we want to make today.
We said earlier that the illegal deportation and displacement of civilians during armed conflict - including children - are crimes under the Geneva Conventions, to which all countries in the world are parties. And all countries in the world have an obligation to surrender such criminals to the competent authorities, or to the International Criminal Court.
Hence there are two important points at once:
First - the Republic of Belarus, as a party to the Geneva Conventions, in the case of Vladimir Putin's visit, taking into account the warrant issued for his arrest, just like any other country in the world, is obliged to hand him over to the International Criminal Court. Yes, of course, we understand that the illegitimate Lukashenko, as Putin's puppet and main ally, is unlikely to do so. Though knowing Lukashenko's complete unprincipled nature, we can assume anything. After all, the sword of international justice hangs over him too - and he may want to avoid it...
At the same time, the dictator's entourage, especially the military, has much to think about. Whether Putin will be in our country soon, we do not know. But if he does, you know what to do. Unless, of course, there are those among you who still believe in justice and fairness and want to stop the war against Ukraine and to save Belarus' independence.
Secondly, exactly the same will apply to Lukashenko, when a similar arrest warrant will be issued against him. For our part, we will do our best to make it happen. But in the meantime, you think it over.
There will not be enough room on the plane if the dictator escapes. But in The Hague, where he is methodically dragging all of you, there is plenty of room.