Citing possible Russian meddling, President Trump has issued an executive order to rebuff the International Criminal Court as that Hague-based tribunal continues its investigation into alleged war crimes committed by U.S. personnel in Afghanistan.

The order will declare an international emergency, allowing the president to authorize economic sanctions and take other punitive actions against any individual involved with the ICC investigation.

“Despite repeated calls by the United States and our allies for reform, the ICC continues to pursue politically motivated investigations,” a senior administration official previewing the order said early Thursday morning. “The ICC investigation with respect to Afghanistan is being pushed forward by an organization of dubious integrity.”

What’s more, the official added, the tribunal “may be the target of corrupt malign influence by Russia and others.”

It is the most aggressive action ever taken toward the ICC, not only by this White House but by the two previous administrations, which also bristled at the thought of an international body exercising judgment over U.S. citizens. But the actions do not come without warning.

“You’ll see in the coming days a series of announcements not just from the State Department, but from all across the United States government that attempt to push back against what the ICC is up to,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week during an interview at the conservative American Enterprise Institute.

Former National Security Adviser John Bolton, an alumnus of both the Bush and Trump White Houses, was even blunter. “We will not cooperate with the ICC,” he said during a September 2018 speech to the Federalist Society. “We will provide no assistance to the ICC. We will not join the ICC. We will let the ICC die on its own. After all, for all intents and purposes, the ICC is already dead to us.”

In fact, the United States never warmed to the idea of an international tribunal. The U.S. voted against the Rome Statute in 1998 that created the ICC and has aggressively rejected its advances ever since. According to a senior administration official, the body and its investigations “threaten to infringe on our national sovereignty.”

“In practice, the court is an unaccountable, ineffective, and out of control international bureaucracy that threatens American service members and intelligence officers and those of our allies and partners,” the official argued.

While the White House declined to offer any specifics about alleged Russian meddling, the executive order comes on the heels of a March decision by the ICC to authorize an investigation into alleged crimes that took place in Afghanistan and long-standing complaints that the panel uses kid gloves when dealing with Russia.

The Military Coalition, an organization representing veterans of each branch of the U.S. armed services, published a letter last week urging the president to check the ICC.

“More than 5.5 million current and former service members, veterans, and their families and survivors, wish to express deep concern about an effort by the International Criminal Court to pursue investigations of U.S. service members and associated personnel,” the Foundation for  Defense of Democracies wrote on Twitter while sharing that coalition’s letter. 

“It is noteworthy that the ICC is also pursuing similar investigations against our close allies in the United Kingdom and Israel, while downplaying credible allegations related to Russia,” that letter asserted.