On June 24, 2024, Pre-Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov. The warrants pertain to alleged international crimes committed in Ukraine between October 10, 2022, and March 9, 2023.
The charges against Shoigu and Gerasimov include war crimes and crimes against humanity. Specifically, they are accused of directing attacks on civilian infrastructure, particularly Ukraine’s electric grid, resulting in excessive incidental harm to civilians. The ICC judges found reasonable grounds to believe that these missile strikes on civilian objects were disproportionate to any military advantage gained, thus violating international humanitarian law.
The warrants mark the eighth and ninth issued by the ICC against senior Russian officials since the onset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This list includes Russian President Vladimir Putin, charged over the deportation of Ukrainian children to Russia.
Shoigu and Gerasimov are suspected of being responsible for missile strikes that targeted numerous electric power plants and substations across Ukraine. The court found that these actions likely caused great suffering and serious injury to the civilian population, constituting crimes against humanity.
The warrants were issued following applications by the ICC Prosecution, which presented evidence suggesting that the suspects had committed the alleged acts jointly or through others, ordered the commission of these crimes, or failed to exercise proper control over their forces. The Chamber’s decision also noted the ongoing nature of similar violations of international humanitarian law.
Despite the ICC’s move, Moscow dismissed the warrants as legally meaningless, arguing that Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denying intentional attacks on civilians. Russia, along with Ukraine, is not a member of the ICC, though Ukraine has granted the court jurisdiction to prosecute crimes committed on its territory since November 2013.
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