The International Criminal Court issues an arrest warrant for Gerasimov and Shoigu of Russia

For suspected crimes committed during Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the International Criminal Court on Tuesday issued arrest warrants for prominent Russian general Valery Gerasimov and former defense minister Sergei Shoigu.

The number of arrest warrants issued against prominent Russian suspects since Moscow’s troop deployment into Ukraine in February 2022 increased to eight. Among them is Vladimir Putin, the president of Russia, who is accused of sending Ukrainian children to Russia.

Although Moscow condemned the court’s decision as legally useless, Kyiv praised it.

Shoigu and Gerasimov are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity, according to the Hague-based court, for organizing assaults against civilians and civilian property in Ukraine.

As to the press statement from the International Criminal Court (ICC), judges concluded 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” between October 10, 2022, and at least March 9, 2023.

Russia has consistently asserted that Ukraine’s energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denied targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure. Russia is not a member of the International Criminal Court.

Although not a member either, Ukraine has allowed the ICC to try crimes committed on its soil since November 2013.
Ukraine praised the decision to issue arrest warrants.

Volodymyr Zelenskiy, the president of Ukraine, stated: “Every criminal involved in the planning and execution of these strikes must know that justice will be served.” “And we do hope to see them behind bars.”

The court’s decision, according to Russia’s Security Council, was a component of a hybrid war against Moscow.

The council reportedly said, “This is just shooting the breeze, since the jurisdiction of the ICC does not extend to Russia, and was made as part of the hybrid war of the West against our country,” according to Russian news agency TASS.

PUTIN ALLY

Shoigu was instrumental in the conflict and has been a close friend and supporter of Putin for a long time. In the biggest shake-up to Putin’s military leadership since the invasion, he was sacked as defense minister last month and became secretary of Russia’s influential Security Council.

It is doubtful that any of the Russian suspects will ever go to trial because the International Criminal Court lacks a police force of its own and depends on member states to conduct arrests.

The International Criminal Court (ICC), the world’s first permanent war crimes court, does not have any mechanisms in place that would permit in absentia proceedings, and Russia has a policy of not extraditing its citizens.

According to the most recent warrants, Russia is believed to have attacked multiple power plants and sub-stations throughout Ukraine within the specified period.

The strikes were deemed war crimes by ICC judges because they “would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage” for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, and there were reasonable grounds to believe that the strikes targeted mostly civilian objects.

The court stated that more specifics of the allegations are being kept under wraps in order to protect witnesses and preserve investigations.

LINKED CASES

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement that he sought for the warrants in February and that the case was related to those granted in March for top Russian commanders Viktor Sokolov and Sergei Kobylash, who are also accused of attacking the electrical grid.

Khan stated that other, related lines of inquiry were still being conducted in Ukraine.

The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) investigation into crimes against civilians and prisoners of war is currently looking into detention-related offenses, according to Brenda Hollis, one of his top investigators in Ukraine, who told reporters earlier this month.

Following the announcement by ICC prosecutor Karim Khan that he was pursuing arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three high-ranking Hamas officials, the ICC has come under increased scrutiny in recent months.

A number of the ICC’s outspoken supporters, including the United States, Germany, and Britain, have questioned the choice to apply for warrants in that particular instance. The majority of ICC member states—all of the nations that make up the European Union—have declared their backing for the court’s independence.

Despite dismissing the action as “outrageous” and disputing the ICC’s authority over the Israel-Hamas war, Washington, which is not a member of the ICC, continues to support the ICC’s investigation into the Ukraine.