International

Russian President Vladimir Putin has issued a decree for Russia to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

The president's decree, published on an official portal for legal information, says to "accept the proposal of the Russian Ministry of Justice in agreement with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and other federal bodies of executive power, along with the Russian Supreme Court, the General Prosecutor of the Russian Federation and the Russian Investigative Committee, about sending the Secretary General of the United Nations notice of the intention of the Russian Federation to no longer be a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court."

The decree will take effect once it has been signed.

The Rome Statute is the treaty which established the International Criminal Court. Russia originally signed the treaty in 2000.

On Tuesday, the ICC released a decision recognizing the existence of an international armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which also classified Russia's presence in the Crimean peninsula as a military occupation.