It is a decision that Ukraine immediately welcomed: the International Criminal Court (ICC) announced in a press release on Tuesday June 25 that it had issued warrants against Sergei Shoigu, the former Russian defense minister, and against Valeri Gerasimov, chief of staff of the Russian army.
The ICC judges, who sit in The Hague, consider “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against Ukrainian electricity infrastructure between at least October 10, 2022 and at least March 9, 2023”.
They also estimate “that there are reasonable grounds to believe that the alleged strikes were directed against civilian objects and that, for installations which could have been considered military objectives at the time of the events, the expected incidental civilian damage would have been clearly excessive in relation to the expected military advantage”.
Andriy Yermak, the head of the Ukrainian presidential cabinet, immediately reacted to the ICC’s decision, welcoming a “important decision” after almost two and a half years of Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin
In March 2023, the court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, a decision rejected by Moscow. In response, Russia issued its own arrest warrant for the ICC president.
Russia, which like Ukraine does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC, has regularly declared that Ukrainian energy infrastructure represents a legitimate military target, and refutes targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure.
The ICC does not have its own police force to execute arrest warrants. It relies on the judicial systems of its 124 member states to carry them out. In theory, anyone who is the subject of an arrest warrant should be arrested if they travel to the territory of a Member State. Mr 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 theoretically would have been forced to carry out the mandate.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers War in Ukraine: why the ICC issued an arrest warrant against Vladimir Putin
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