It’s interesting that within the parameters of EO 14071, our government isn’t mandating divestments of Russian stock. Or at bare minimum, that more people aren’t willing to do so in order to cut off Russia’s support. For a country that is supposed to be so debased in the world view, they seem to have an exceeding amount of economic support. Between the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) countries and Turkey, trade volume went up roughly 180% on average after the invasion and Turkey has been a NATO member since 1952. This along with the receipt of combat drones and loitering munitions from Iran, deliveries of tanks and other armoured vehicles from Belarus, artillery ammunition from North Korea and ballistic missiles from Iran.

Experts say Turkey is today more valuable than ever to the organization. The country sits at the south-eastern flank of the alliance, a key buffer between Russia and the West. With this in mind, the Turkish government has designated the Russian invasion as a ‘war’, giving it the right under the 1936 Montreux Convention to close the Bosporus Strait—the only way for Russia (south-western part) and Ukraine to reach the Mediterranean and other seas. With the ICC issuing a warrant for his arrest, Putin has responded with indignation. Reuters wrote that Kremlin Spokesmen Dmitry Peskov said Russia found the very questions raised by the ICC “outrageous and unacceptable”, but noted that Russia, like many other countries, does not recognise the jurisdiction of the ICC. “And accordingly, any decisions of this kind are null and void for the Russian Federation from the point of view of law.” When asked if Putin was concerned about traveling to countries that recognised the ICC, Peskov told reporters: “I have nothing to add on this subject. That’s all we want to say.”

Vlolodymyr Zelenskyy added, “This is an historic decision which will lead to historic accountability. The head of the terrorist state and another official have officially become suspects in a war crimes case.”

“In criminal cases that are being investigated by our law enforcement there are more than 16,000 instances of forcible deportation of Ukrainian children by occupiers. But the real, complete number of deported could be much larger. It would have been impossible to enact such a criminal operation without the say-so of the man at the helm of the terrorist state.”

“To part children from their families, to prevent them from contacting their relatives, to hide children on the territory of Russia, to disseminate them around far-flung regions is clearly state policy of Russia, state decisions and state evil, which starts precisely with the top official of this state.”

Forced deportation of populations is recognized as a crime under the Rome statute, to which Russia was a signatory but withdrew from in 2016. Because Moscow does not recognize the court, it is unlikely that Putin or Lvova-Belova, Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, will be surrendered to its jurisdiction. The ICC decision issued on Friday means that the court’s 123 member states would have to arrest the Russian president and transfer him to The Hague, Netherlands, for trial if he sets foot on their territory. However, with 193 member states of the United Nations, there are still 70 countries that would not come under the jurisdiction of the ICC ban. Some other countries that voted against the Rome Statute were Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, Yemen, and China. Ties between China and Russia have strengthened since the start of the war which means China, along with many other countries, would likely welcome a visit by Putin. China’s president Xi Jinping is due to meet Putin next week in the Russian capital.