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The International Criminal Court, ICC, on Tuesday issued a warrant of arrest for a former Russian Defence Minister, Sergei Shoigu and a leading Russian General, Valery Gerasimov.
ICC ordered the arrest of Shoigu and Gerasimov for alleged crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Shoigu was sacked as defence minister last month and appointed Secretary of Russia’s powerful Security Council in the most significant changes Russian President Vladimir Putin made to his military command since the start of the war in 2022.
The Hague-based court said Shoigu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians in Ukraine.
A statement by ICC said its ”Judges had found that there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023.”
According to ICC judges, there was reasonable ground to believe the strikes targeted mostly civilian objects “and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage”, making the attacks war crimes.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, has repeatedly said Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
Ukraine is also not a member but has granted the ICC jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory.
The warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov bring the total of arrest warrants issued against senior Russian suspects since the beginning of the invasion to eight.
