The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov, high-ranking Russian military commanders, following allegations of war crimes related to Moscow’s ongoing conflict with Ukraine. The ICC found “reasonable grounds” to believe that these individuals played pivotal roles in perpetuating these crimes.
Sergei Kobylash, a Lieutenant General in the Russian Armed Forces, and Viktor Sokolov, a Navy Admiral, stand accused of ordering attacks on civilian objects, culminating in excessive incidental civilian harm. These acts violate Article 8 of the Rome Statute, the governing treaty of the ICC.
The two military commanders have been specifically associated with missile strikes on Ukrainian power infrastructure between October 2022 and March 2023. The ICC statement outlines a pattern of attacks on electrical power plants and substations across various locations in Ukraine, allegedly carried out by the Russian armed forces under their directive.
These arrest warrants respond to complaints lodged by ICC prosecutors, who argue the commanders are directly responsible for these alleged war crimes or failed to exercise proper control over their underlings.
The issuance of these warrants has garnered praise from Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, who heralded the move as a significant step towards justice. However, the warrants themselves have not been made public due to witness safety concerns and to safeguard ongoing investigations, the Court stated.
This follows the ICC’S decision last March to issue arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the Putin administration’’s children’’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova. In a later retaliatory action, Russian authorities indicted the ICC prosecutor and judge involved in these warrants.
For more details, read the full report here.