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takyon writes:

Russia has repudiated the International Criminal Court (ICC) by withdrawing its signature from the founding Rome Statute, a day after the ICC published a report that called Russian's annexation of Crimea an "on-going state of occupation". Russia is not a member of the ICC because it had never ratified the treaty:

Russia has said it is formally withdrawing its signature from the founding statute of the international criminal court, a day after the court published a report classifying the Russian annexation of Crimea as an occupation. The repudiation of the tribunal, though symbolic, is a fresh blow to efforts to establish a global legal order for pursuing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

In recent months, three African countries who were all full members of the ICC – South Africa, Burundi and Gambia – have signalled their intention to pull out, following complaints that ICC prosecutions focused excessively on the African continent.

The Russian foreign ministry made the announcement on Wednesday on the orders of the president, Vladimir Putin, saying the tribunal had failed to live up to hopes of the international community and denouncing its work as "one-sided and inefficient". Russia signed the Rome statute in 2000 and cooperated with the court, but had not ratified the treaty and thus remained outside the ICC's jurisdiction. This means that the latest move, though highly symbolic, will not change much in practice.

Also at the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NPR, NYT, RT, and Foreign Policy.

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