International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia’s Sergey Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and military Chief of Staff Valery Gerasimov for directing attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.
The Hague-based court has accused Shoigu and Gerasimov of war crimes and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts, it said in a statement on Tuesday.
According to the ICC statement, the Court’s judges considered there are reasonable grounds to believe that Shoigu and Gerasimov are responsible for “missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure” from at least October 10, 2022 until at least March 9, 2023.
In 2023, the ICC also issued warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Children’s Rights Commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova, accusing them of complicity in the illegal deportations of children from Ukraine.
Putin replaced Shoigu, who had served as Russia’s defense minister since 2012, in May as part of his post-inauguration cabinet shakeup. Shoigu now serves as the head of Russia’s Security Council.
