The International Criminal Court (ICC) has taken the unprecedented step of issuing arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and his commissioner for children’s rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

The warrants are related to allegations of war crimes committed by Russia, including the forced taking of Ukrainian children.

The court said in a news release on Friday the two are “allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation.”

The move by the Hague’s criminal court has marked a significant step by requesting the arrest of a sitting world leader, though analysts admit that the chances of actually arresting President Putin are slim.

However, officials in Moscow were quick to point out that Russia has never signed on as a party to the ICC and have therefore dismissed the charges outright.

“The very question itself is outrageous and unacceptable,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said. “Russia, like a number of other states, does not recognize the jurisdiction of this court, and therefore any of its decisions are insignificant for the Russian Federation from a legal viewpoint.”

Andriy Kostin, the Ukrainian Prosecutor General, has hailed the criminal court’s decision as “historic.”

Despite Ukraine not being a party to the ICC, Kostin emphasized that the government has cooperated with the court on criminal investigations within its territory.

He also disclosed that his office provided the ICC with over 1,000 pages of documents regarding the alleged forcible deportation of children to Russia.

Last month, a report by Yale University researchers and the U.S. State Department alleged that the Russian government is operating a systematic network of custody centers holding thousands of Ukrainian children.

While Russian officials have acknowledged the arrival of Ukrainian children in the country, they have claimed that the centers are part of a large humanitarian program designed to care for abandoned or war-traumatized orphans.

ICC President Piotr Hofmanski said the judges decided to make these warrants public to try to deter further crimes.

“It is forbidden by international law for occupying powers to transfer civilians from the territories where they live to other territories,” he said. “Children enjoy special protection under the Geneva Convention.”

“I hoped (this would happen), but I didn’t know it would be this quick,” said Nathaniel Raymond, executive director of the Yale Humanitarian Research Lab.

“This is a stunning move by the court, which has moved right to the top of the Russian state,” said David Bosco, author of Rough Justice: The International Criminal Court in a World of Power Politics.

However, Bosco cautioned, “The arrest warrant won’t have immediate implications because no trial can move forward without Putin being in custody and there’s no chance of that happening in the near future.”

While the possibility of trying Putin remains a difficult task, human rights advocates have welcomed the news as a major step forward.

“This is a big day for the many victims of crimes committed by Russian forces in Ukraine since 2014,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement. “With these arrest warrants, the ICC has made Putin a wanted man and taken its first step to end the impunity that has emboldened perpetrators in Russia’s war against Ukraine for far too long.”

Amnesty International has called on countries to deny safe haven for Putin and Lvova-Belova by arresting them and handing them over to the ICC.

The organization also predicted that further arrest warrants may be issued for Russian leaders as the investigations into war crimes in Ukraine continue to develop.

Despite Russia’s vehement rejection of allegations of war crimes committed by its forces in Ukraine, the country has made little secret of its relocation of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Russian government has presented the move as a noble humanitarian effort, while critics have raised concerns about the conditions in which the children are being kept.

In February, President Putin hosted a meeting at the Kremlin with Lvova-Belova, the children’s rights commissioner, during which they openly discussed Russian adoption programs for Ukrainian children in occupied territories of Ukraine, including Lvova-Belova’s own teenage son.

A transcript of the conversation is posted on the Kremlin’s website.

“You also adopted a child from Mariupol, is that right?” asked Putin.

“Yes, Vladimir Vladimirovich,” Lvova-Belova responded, using the Russian leader’s patronymic. “Thanks to you.”

Ukraine’s decision to halt adoptions after Russia’s invasion of the country is a significant admission. International children’s rights groups have argued that countries have a legal obligation under international law to prohibit adoptions of Ukrainian children during wartime.