“Any attempt to arrest Mr Vladimir Putin from a foreign country, after the arrest warrant issued against him last week by the International Criminal Court (ICC) would amount to a “declaration of war” against Moscow, his ally warned today. Dmitry Medvedev.

“Let’s imagine (…) The head of state of a nuclear power goes to, say, for example Germany and is arrested. What is this; A declaration of war against Russia” said last night Medvedev, former president of Russia and currently second in the hierarchy of the Russian Security Council.

If that happens, then “all our capabilities, missile and otherwise, will fall on the Bundestag, the chancellor’s office and so on,” added Medvedev, who is used to high-profile statements.

This demonstrative warning was made after the International Criminal Court, which has its headquarters in The Hague, issued an arrest warrant against Putin last week for the war crime of “deporting” children from Ukraine as part of Moscow’s aggression against Ukraine.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the ICC denounced the “threats” against it coming from Moscow, after the Russian judiciary announced that it was opening a criminal investigation against its judges and its prosecutor, Karim Khan.

Earlier this week, Medvedev had already threatened the ICC with a missile strike, calling on its judges to “look carefully at the sky”.

Russia, which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, called the arrest warrant against Putin “null and void”.