Russian President Vladimir Putin
can be taken into custody
in 123 different countries.
Now that the International Criminal Court
has issued a warrant for his arrest
He and the Russian official in this photo
are accused of scheming
to deport thousands of Ukrainian children
to Russia.
White House national security aide John
Kirby says it's critical
that all evidence against Putin
be preserved.
Well, things
first, we're going to stay committed
to helping Ukraine
as they document and analyze
and preserve
the kinds of evidence of the war
crimes, the atrocities, the crimes
against humanity
that have occurred inside
Ukraine at the hands of Russian forces.
And number two,
that we are not going to back off
our belief
that accountability for these war crimes
has got to be had,
however long that takes
one place, Putin won't be arrested.
Crimea, he's
in the annexed region
today for the nine year
anniversary of Russia's takeover.
CNN national security
analyst Steve Hall joins us now.
He's also
the former CIA chief
of Russian operations.
Steve,
what do you what do you make of this?
I mean, could
he ever actually be arrested,
it seems at this point, improbable
You know, it is improbable right now.
So this action has
a lot of different ramifications.
I think first
it does
send a strong message
to Putin and to the Russians in general.
You know,
Russians on the streets, senior
Russian leadership, and,
of course, Putin himself,
that they're increased.
They're increasingly isolated
from from basically
the entire international community.
And although,
you know,
I will say it's unlikely
that he'll be arrested.
But remember,
we also said it was unlikely
that we'd get guys like Milosevic
You know, from from the Serbian
Ratko Mladic, his military commander.
And yet they both ended up in The Hague
eventually.
It took time, but it did happen.
So I'm sure that Putin
is remembering
those things
and remembering
that this is not a temporary thing
that goes away after a year or two.
It stays with you forever.
And it'll be interesting
to see how that impacts upon him.
If at all in his decision making.
It's a long game.
And of course, the US
is not an ICC signatory,
and neither is Russia.
Does that have any effect
on diplomatic relations?
Between Washington and Moscow?
I really don't think it does.
I mean,
this is certainly,
you know, a bad day for Vladimir Putin
or yesterday was and for Russia.
And so that's not going to increase
the, you know, any sort of activity
or negotiations
either with the United States
or any of our Western allies or Ukraine
for that matter.
But just because the United States
is not a signatory
to this particular treaty
doesn't mean that it can't assist
in obtaining information,
which is I think
what what
Admiral Kirby
was talking about there,
the importance of preserving
any information, any data,
any proof or evidence
that Putin was involved
in what he's been accused of,
and in that anybody in in the world
can help with that
to include the United States.
You don't have to be a signatory
to help with the process.
Of course, next week,
Putin is scheduled to meet
with the Chinese
president, Xi Jinping,
to discuss the war in Ukraine.
Do you think this warrant
will have any effect on Chinese Russian
relations?
Probably not
at the level that we can see it,
but I can tell you
that I think one of the impacts
that this will have
is condemnation
and this
arrest warrant for Putin is going to
have is
if you're a world leader
and you want to be taken seriously,
do you want to be on camera
publicly meeting with somebody
that has been officially designated
as a war criminal
in that that is
I think, going to be in the back
of a lot of people's minds,
especially if they're contemplating
meeting with Russia.
Now, granted
the countries
that Russia
and that
Putin usually meet with
are usually not friendly to the West,
but China is very concerned
over the long run
as to
what its role is
going to be in the future.
It wants to be a significant
global superpower
and it wants to dominate things
20, five, 30 years from now.
And so if somebody's
got those ideas about
where their country is going to go,
is it really in their best interest
to meet with a designated war criminal?
We'll see.
And Putin is also,
of course,
scheduled to attend
a summit in South Africa later this year.
They are a signatory to the ICC
and each chance
he may be asked to attend that remotely.
Or do you think he'll attend to
they could bring him in?
That's very interesting.
I mean, if I were the South Africans,
you know, I would
I would have to treat this
very very carefully.
They're trying to walk sort of,
you know, sort of a middle ground.
They've been supportive on Russia
on certain things.
But remember,
the South Africans
a number of years ago
failed to capture an individual
who was designated
the same way that Putin
has been designated
an arrest warrant out for him
in the South.
Africans received
considerable criticism
for not picking up that person.
So this
you know, this is, again,
something that internationally, countries
and governments
are going to have
to take into consideration
before they have contact
or have warm ties with Russia.
Steve, all, thank you.