Russia has opened a criminal case against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and put him on a wanted list, the state news agency TASS reported on Saturday, an announcement Ukraine dismissed as evidence of Moscow’s “desperation”.

TASS reported that the Russian Interior Ministry database showed Zelenskiy was on a wanted list but gave no further details. Ukraine’s foreign ministry noted Russian President Vladimir Putin was himself subject to arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant.

“We would like to remind you that unlike the worthless Russian announcements, an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes is quite real, and subject to implementation in 123 countries,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

It said the Russian announcement was “evidence of the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda, which can think of no other way to attract attention”.

  • TacticsConsort@yiffit.netEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    Ah yes, the crime of trying to keep your nation free and alive through appropriate defensive measures. How truly dastardly (/s)

    Honestly this might be the single most pathetic threat that I’ve seen in a long time. Is it even a threat? Publicity stunt? Honestly I don’t know or care, because we all know this statement means about as much as a Trump tweet.

  • cygnus@lemmy.caEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    TBH I’m surprised that they waited until 800 days into their 3-day invasion to do this. I’d have thought they would fabricate something before they invaded.

    • MONDY@kbin.social
      0·
      2 months ago

      It’s because Russia said they would not assassinate a head of state. Zelensky’s presidential term expires in May.

      • cygnus@lemmy.caEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        This would hold more water if they hadn’t tried to assassinate him on countless occasions already (especially during the first few days of the war), but that tortured logic is about what I’d expect from them.

        • CALIGVLA@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          … No? Assassination has the goal to kill, a war has the goal of conquering or driving back someone else, deaths happen but they usually aren’t the main goal. Large scale assassination would be genocide.