Rome Statute: Russia has no intention to become a member

According to the relevant resolution signed by Russian President Vladimir Putin and posted on the government’s legal information web portal on Wednesday, Russia has no intention to become a member of the Rome Statute, which is the basic document establishing the International Criminal Court. According to the Russian Foreign Ministry, Moscow refused to ratify the ICC Statute because the International Criminal Court has not lived up to what was expected, , especially in terms of becoming a genuinely independent judicial body According to Russian authorities, there is a large number of contradictions existing between separate provisions of the statute and the Constitution of the Russian Federation, which is one of the reasons for Russia’s refusal to ratify the document. The Rome Statute (The ICC Charter) was developed with Russia’s participation and adopted by the UN Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries in Rome on 17th of July, 1998. It entered into force on 1st of July, 2002 and started operating in 2003. Russia signed the document on 13th of September, 2000.