Russia Withdraws Its Signature from the Statute of the International Criminal Court

On November 16, 2016, Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered his Foreign Ministry to inform the Secretary-General of the United Nations that Russia no longer intended to participate in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). The decision to formally withdraw its signature from the founding statute of the Court comes just two days after a report issued by the court – and criticized in Russia – described Moscow’s annexation of Crimea as an international military conflict and classified the annexation of Crimea as an occupation.