- Ukraine welcomed the decision, saying the men would be ‘held responsible for the evil’
The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, recently dismissed from office by Vladimir Putin.
Arrest warrants have been issued for alleged war crimes of directing attacks against civilian objects and causing excessive accidental harm to civilians, as well as for the crime against humanity of “inhumane acts” in Ukraine, the ICC said in a statement.
ICC judges said there were “reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by Russian armed forces against Ukraine’s electricity infrastructure from October 10, 2022 until at least March 9 2023 at least.”
The court said these strikes were “directed against civilian objects” and that even where targets could be considered military, civilian harm “would have been clearly excessive in relation to the expected military advantage.”
The court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin in March last year, a decision Moscow called “void.” In response, Russia issued its own arrest warrant for the ICC president.
The archive image shows Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, right, speaking to Russian Chief of Staff General Valery Gerasimov.
Firefighters work to put out a fire at energy infrastructure damaged by a Russian missile strike in October 2022.
Sergei Shoigu was recently dismissed from his post as Russian Defense Minister by Vladimir Putin.
The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff welcomed the ICC’s decision to issue arrest warrants, saying it was an “important decision.”
“Shoigu and Gerasimov bear individual responsibility… (They) will be held responsible for the evil,” Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.
The ICC, based in The Hague, does not have its own police force to execute arrest warrants. It relies on the justice of its 124 members to carry them out.
In theory, anyone who is the subject of an arrest warrant does not have the right to travel to an ICC member state for fear of arrest.
Putin has traveled abroad, including to Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates – which are not members of the ICC.
However, he missed a BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) meeting in South Africa, which should have carried out the mandate.
It comes after Shoigu was ousted in the most significant reshuffle of Russia’s military command since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu (photo with Vladimir Putin)
The move appears to be a stunning snub to Shoigu, a close ally and friend of Putin and Russia’s longest-serving minister.
Putin replaced him with little-known civil economist Andrey Belousov, described by commentators as a “puppet.”
His appointment was seen by many as a signal that Putin intends to take a greater personal role in war tactics.
Russia renewed a campaign of air attacks against Ukrainian energy facilities in March, which kyiv says destroyed half of its power-generating capacity and forced Ukraine to introduce periodic blackouts across the country. capital and throughout the country.
Russia says energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The attacks have raised concerns about the resilience of Ukraine’s struggling power system during the cold winter months, following a series of harsh winters in the war-torn country.
The Kyiv School of Economics estimates that Ukraine’s energy sector has suffered $16.1 billion in direct losses since the Russian invasion in February 2022.
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