"The court did not live up to the hopes associated with it and did not become truly independent," Russia's foreign ministry said on Wednesday.

“It is revealing that in its 14 years of work the ICC has pronounced just four verdicts and spent over $1 billion."

The ministry specifically said it had lost trust in the court over its handling of an investigation into the five day war between Russia and Georgia in 2008, saying that it had not properly investigated alleged Georgian crimes.