THE HAGUE: The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for the former Russian defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov for alleged crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Sergei Shoigu, who was recently appointed Secretary of Russia’s Security Council after being removed from his post as defence minister, and General Gerasimov are accused of directing attacks targeting civilians and civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. The ICC cited missile strikes by Russian armed forces on Ukrainian electric infrastructure from October 2022 to March 2023 as the basis for the warrants.
The court asserted that there are “reasonable grounds to believe” that these attacks constituted war crimes. It emphasized that the strikes mainly targeted civilian facilities, including electric power plants and sub-stations, under circumstances where any potential military advantage was outweighed by excessive harm to civilians.
Russia, although not a member of the ICC, has consistently defended its military actions in Ukraine, arguing that Ukrainian energy infrastructure was legitimate military targets. Moscow has denied deliberately targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine, while also not a member of the ICC, has granted the court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory. This has allowed the ICC to issue multiple arrest warrants against senior Russian officials since the start of the invasion, including Russian President Vladimir Putin, who is suspected of war crimes related to the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
The ICC, established as a judicial body independent of national courts, lacks its own enforcement mechanism and relies on member states to execute arrest warrants. This reliance has posed challenges in previous cases involving high-ranking officials accused of international crimes.
