The International Criminal Court (ICC) announced on Tuesday that arrest warrants have been issued against former Russian Minister of Defense Sergei Shoigu and Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the invasion of Ukraine between October 2022 and March 2023. The ICC Preliminary Questions Chamber approved the arrest warrants, holding high-ranking Russian officials responsible for directing attacks on civilian targets and causing excessive collateral damage to civilians and civilian objects. They are also accused of committing inhumane acts defined in the Rome Statute.
ICC prosecutor, Karim Khan, stated that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Shoigu and Gerasimov are responsible for missile attacks carried out by the Russian Armed Forces against Ukrainian electrical infrastructure during the specified time period. The attacks were directed against civilian objects and caused great suffering, leading to the belief that the suspects are criminally responsible for crimes against humanity.
The Chamber authorized the public disclosure of the existence of these arrest warrants, as well as the names of the suspects and the crimes they are accused of. These arrest warrants are not the first issued by the ICC in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In March, arrest warrants were issued for two Russian military personnel, and a year earlier, arrest warrants were issued for Russian dictator Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, Russia’s commissioner for children’s rights. The actions leading to these arrest warrants are defined as war crimes under the Rome Statute.