Russia has issued a search warrant for Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky without disclosing its motives, according to a notice published on the Ministry of Internal Affairs' website today, Saturday. The brief text stated that the Ukrainian president is wanted "under a clause of the Criminal Code," without additional details.
Since February 2022, Russia has been conducting a military operation on Ukrainian territory, describing it as a battle against a "Nazi" authority in Kyiv. Russian officials specifically target Zelensky. In the wake of the war's outbreak, President Vladimir Putin called on the Ukrainian military to overthrow him.
Moscow's wanted list is lengthy and includes Russian or foreign figures, particularly Ukrainians. Last February, the name of Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas was added to the list alongside other officials from the Baltic states.
To justify this decision, the Kremlin cited the conflicting views of history between Moscow and these countries. The Baltic states, fearing Kremlin military ambitions, consider themselves to have been occupied by the Soviet Union, whereas Moscow views this as a liberation and asserts that any other approach is a "distortion of history," punishable by law in Russia.
Russia has also issued an arrest warrant for the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, who last year prepared an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin on charges of committing war crimes.
