The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former Minister of Defence and its current army chief, in a body blow for Putin.
Sergey Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov have been charged with war crimes committed in Ukraine between the period October 10, 2022 until at least March 9, 2023.
The charges relate to missile attacks on civilian infrastructure, in particular on the energy sector.
While acknowledging they may have been deemed as genuine army targets at the time, the collateral damage to civilians would have been “clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage”, the court said.
The ICC said: “The two warrants of arrest were issued following applications filed by the Prosecution.
“Pre-Trial Chamber II considered that there are 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 from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023.
“During this time-frame, a large number of strikes against numerous electric power plants and sub-stations were carried out by the Russian armed forces in multiple locations in Ukraine.
“Pre-Trial Chamber II found that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged strikes were directed against civilian objects, and for those installations that may have qualified as military objectives at the relevant time, the expected incidental civilian harm and damage would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage.”
Shoigu was recently dismissed from his post by Putin and replaced with Andrei Belousov.
Shoigu was recently dismissed from his post by Putin and replaced with Andrei Belousov.
The ICC has already issued an arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin over the forced deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia.
Forced deportation of populations is recognised as a crime under the Rome statute that established the court.
Russia was a signatory to the statute but withdrew in 2016, saying it did not recognise the jurisdiction of the court.
Although Ukraine is itself not a signatory to the court in The Hague, it granted the ICC jurisdiction to investigate war crimes committed on its territory.