Any attempt to arrest Vladimir Putin would be a declaration of war against Russia, the president’s ally Dmitry Medvedev said after the International Criminal Court (ICC) put out a warrant for the Russian leader over alleged war crimes.
Mr Putin stands accused of bearing personal responsibility for the illegal deportation of hundreds of children from Ukraine.
Speaking to Russian media, Mr Medvedev, a former president, said the ICC, which countries including Russia, China and the United States do not recognise, was a “legal nonentity” that had never done anything significant.
On an attempt to arrest Mr Putin, he said: “What would that be? It would be a declaration of war on the Russian Federation.”
Earlier Mr Medvedev said the threat of nuclear conflict was rising and the constant arms supply to Ukraine is bringing a “nuclear apocalypse” closer.
Russia has accused Britain of driving the stakes of nuclear war after the Ministry of Defence revealed it was sending Ukraine missiles tipped with depleted uranium – a common, if not uncontroversial, type of munitions.
