Russia has reportedly opened a criminal case against Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and put him on its list of wanted criminals, the state news agency TASS reported on Saturday (May 4).

Ukraine, however, dismissed the reports calling it a sign of Russia’s “desperation”.

Zelensky’s name was added to the Russian interior ministry’s “wanted” list, which is an online database of suspected criminals that the government is looking for.

As per TASS reports, the Ukrainian president was wanted by Moscow “under an article of the criminal code”, however, there were no further details given.

Ukraine’s foreign ministry, in a befitting reply, said that Russian President Vladimir Putin himself was subject to arrest under an International Criminal Court warrant.

“We would like to remind you that, unlike the worthless Russian announcements, an International Criminal Court warrant for the arrest of Russian dictator Vladimir Putin on suspicion of war crimes is quite real and subject to implementation in 123 countries,” the foreign ministry said in a statement.

It further said that the announcement made by Moscow was “evidence of the desperation of the Russian state machine and propaganda, which can think of no other way to attract attention”.

Moscow has repeatedly targeted Zelensky since the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine in February 2022.

The Ukrainian leader, in 2023 said that there were at least “five or six” assassination attempts against him that he was aware of which had been foiled.

Arrest warrants against several politicians

Russia has issued arrest warrants against several Ukrainian and European politicians since the start of its offensive against Ukraine in Feb 2022.

In Feb, Russia added Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas, Lithuania’s culture minister and members of the previous Latvian parliament to its wanted list over “desecration of historical memory” for destroying Soviet-era monuments.

(With inputs from agencies)