War crimes arrest warrants issued for top Russian officials

Image source, EPA

Image caption, Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov in December 2022
  • Author, Laura Gozzi
  • Role, 大象传媒 News

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russia's former defence minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov.

The ICC judges said the two men were suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Ukraine.

The court said there were grounds to believe that Mr Shoigu and Mr Gerasimov bore individual criminal responsibility for attacks on civilian targets between October 2022 and March 2023.

"There are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes ... against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure," the ICC said in its indictment.

The court said the civilian damage from the alleged strikes would have been "clearly excessive" to any military advantage gained by Russia.

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky said the ICC's decision was "a clear indication that justice for Russian crimes against Ukrainians is inevitable."

"Every criminal involved in the planning and execution of these strikes must know that justice will be served. And we do hope to see them behind bars."

Russia's Security Council said the ICC's arrest warrant against Mr Shoigu was "insignificant" and part of a hybrid war against Moscow.

Mr Shoigu, a long-standing ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin, was removed as defence minister last month - a post he had held since 2012. He is now the secretary of the Security Council.

Mr Putin himself has been wanted by the ICC since March 2023.

The court alleged he was responsible for war crimes, focusing its claims on the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. A warrant was also issued for the arrest of Mr Putin's Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.

Not much else came of the move since the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects, and can only exercise jurisdiction within its member countries - and Russia is not one of them.

However, the ruling has perhaps curtailed travel for Mr Putin. Since it was issued, the Russian president has avoided visiting countries that are signatories to the ICC.

Ukraine is not a member of the ICC either, but it has accepted the court鈥檚 jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed on its territory since November 2013.