The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants on Tuesday for Russia’s former defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and its military chief of staff, General Valery Gerasimov. The charges relate to war crimes and crimes against humanity, specifically in connection to the alleged attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.
The ICC judges have cited reasonable grounds to hold Shoigu and Gerasimov accountable for missile strikes targeting Ukraine’s electric infrastructure between October 2022 and March 2023. The attacks aimed at multiple electric power plants and substations, significantly affecting civilian life. Under the Rome Statute, the charges include:
- The war crime of directing attacks at civilian objects (article 8(2)(b)(ii) of the Rome Statute).
- The war crime of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects (article 8(2)(b)(iv) of the Rome Statute).
- The crime against humanity of inhumane acts under article 7(1)(k) of the Rome Statute.
Reactions to the issuance of the warrants have varied. The Russian Security Council dismissed the decision, attributing it to the West’s “hybrid war” against Russia and downplaying the warrants as ineffectual. In contrast, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy welcomed the warrants, describing them as a necessary response to the accused crimes committed by Russian military leadership during the conflict.
The execution of these arrest warrants remains complex. Russia is not a member of the ICC and does not recognize its jurisdiction, making the immediate apprehension of Shoigu and Gerasimov unlikely unless they travel to one of the ICC’s 123 member states obligated to enforce these warrants.
For further details, visit the full article on JURIST.