DOMINANT ANGLE
Moscow sees the US sanctions against the ICC as confirmation of a Court dependent on Western funding, and relays without comment Marco Rubio's threat to "dismantle it brick by brick".
Dominant angle identified — does not reflect unanimity of this country’s media
KEY POINTS
- 01
The OFAC has added the ICC to its SDN list on October 9, while authorizing certain transactions until April 7, 2027 (Sputnik).
- 02
Marco Rubio: "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," while saying he hopes for a diplomatic solution (TASS).
- 03
Sputnik recalls Moscow's position: the ICC would be a Western-funded body with a partial agenda, according to Lavrov and Zabolotskaya.
ANALYSIS
Moscow, October 10, 2026. The Russian state press on Friday, October 9, focused not on the Nobel Peace Prize, which was absent from the articles reviewed, but on the International Criminal Court's inclusion on the US sanctions list. Sputnik cited the notice published on the Treasury's website: "The following entity has been added to OFAC's SDN List: INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT," established in The Hague, with a creation date of July 1, 2002. The agency specified that Washington nonetheless authorized certain transactions with the Court until April 7, 2027.
Sputnik reported, according to Reuters, Marco Rubio's statement: "Today, the United States is sanctioning the International Criminal Court. We will ban transactions with this rogue court, cutting off their resources and crippling its ability to operate." The ICC "firmly" condemned the measure, which it deemed unprecedented, Sputnik added: these sanctions aim to disrupt its work and intimidate those who cooperate with it, and the Court said it would not give in to pressure. Its fate now largely depends, according to the ICC, on the States parties to the Rome Statute.
TASS emphasized the other aspect of the Secretary of State's statement: Washington said it was ready for a diplomatic solution, estimating that neither the Court nor the States parties had taken significant measures. "Either the ICC will end its threats, or we will end the ICC," Rubio wrote, promising to pursue the campaign to dismantle it "brick by brick" if negotiations fail. He emphasized that the United States and its population do not fall under the Court's jurisdiction.
TASS recalled the context: the decree signed by Donald Trump on February 6, 2025, which provides for financial and visa restrictions against ICC officials, and the US grievance over arrest warrants targeting Benyamin Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, deemed unfounded by Washington.
Sputnik linked these events to the Russian position. According to the agency, Moscow repeated that the ICC is a Western-funded body with a partial agenda. Sergei Lavrov recalled that former prosecutor Karim Khan had solicited resources from Western sponsors from the start of the special military operation, funds intended to investigate Russia. Deputy Representative Maria Zabolotskaya estimated that the Court had legitimized the destruction of Libya after NATO's intervention in 2011.
