The chief of staff of the Russian army, Valeri Guerassimov, and the former defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, are now in the crosshairs of the International Criminal Court (ICC). On Monday June 24, the judges issued arrest warrants against the two men, suspected of crimes against humanity and war crimes committed between October 10, 2022 and March 9, 2023 in Ukraine. Crimes committed “in the context of acts of aggression committed by Russian military forces against the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine, which began in 2014,” prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement.
Shortly after the ICC decision, made public on Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed this announcement on the social network “clearly indicates that justice for Russian crimes against Ukrainians is inevitable.” He added wait “looking forward to more arrest warrants to deprive Russia of its sense of impunity”a feeling which, according to him, “fueled Russian crimes for decades”.
For its part, the official Russian press agency Tass reports that the Russian Security Council, of which Sergei Shoigu became secretary in May, after having been minister of defense for twelve years, judged the ICC’s decision “insignificant”.
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The two arrest warrants, the contents of which have been classified « secret » by the Court “in order to protect witnesses and secure investigations”, relate to the first bombing campaign targeting Ukrainian power plants. At the start of winter 2022, Russian forces had shelled several sites in kyiv, Kharkiv, Kherson, Odessa and Mykolaiv, in particular. On the single day of October 10, 2022, nearly 40% of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure was destroyed by Russian missiles, according to authorities in kyiv.
“Justice will be served”
Electricity infrastructure is considered dual-use, military and civilian, and can legally be the target of attack during armed conflict. The three judges nevertheless considered that “civil damages” were “clearly excessive in relation to the expected military advantage” and described the acts as war crimes. The Court’s press release announces that they have examined the effect of the Russian attacks “on the safety and security of civilians, including the most vulnerable, such as the elderly, women and children”.
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