The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants against Sergei Shoigu, former Russian Defense Minister, and General Valery Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff, for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the invasion of Ukraine. The warrants, issued on Tuesday, accuse Shoigu and Gerasimov of directing missile attacks against civilians and Ukrainian electrical infrastructure from October 10, 2022, to at least March 9, 2023.
The Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC emphasized the importance of protecting civilians in armed conflicts, concluding that there are reasonable grounds to believe that Shoigu and Gerasimov intended to cause great suffering or serious injury to civilians' physical and mental health. Despite the ICC's efforts to keep such orders confidential to protect witnesses and ongoing investigations, the Chamber decided to make these warrants public to prevent further crimes, noting that similar actions are still occurring in Ukraine.
Sergei Shoigu, who had been at the helm of the Russian Defense Ministry for a decade, was dismissed by President Vladimir Putin in May. Shoigu's tenure saw the planning and execution of the invasion of Ukraine, but he fell out of favor due to the lack of progress in the conflict. Shoigu was later appointed Secretary of the Russian Security Council.
Valery Gerasimov, appointed in January 2023 as the commander-in-chief of Russian forces in Ukraine, has been on the European Union's sanctions list since 2014 for his role in the deployment of Russian troops on the Ukrainian border. Gerasimov has claimed that the United States intentionally destroyed arms control agreements to strategically defeat Russia.
In 2022, a series of attacks on Ukraine's energy grid left numerous citizens without power and caused water outages. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky estimated that 30% of the power plants were destroyed. These attacks, which began in October, were deemed war crimes by the Ukrainian government. The blackouts also affected hospitals and the gas network, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.
Russia, which is not a member of the ICC, rejects its jurisdiction and refuses to extradite its citizens. In 2023, the ICC also issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin for his alleged role in the forced deportation of Ukrainian minors, a war crime also attributed to Maria Lvova-Belova, the Kremlin's commissioner for children's rights. Ukraine has documented the forced transfer of around 20,000 children to Russia, a claim Moscow denies, asserting that it has protected them from the war.
- The ICC's arrest warrants against Shoigu and Gerasimov bring the total number of warrants issued against senior Russian officials to eight, including President Vladimir Putin. The court relies on its member states for the enforcement of these warrants, as it does not have its own police force.
- Shoigu's dismissal and subsequent appointment as Secretary of the Russian Security Council marked significant changes in Russia's military leadership. Both Shoigu and Gerasimov faced criticism from Russian war bloggers and figures like Yevgeny Prigozhin, head of the Wagner Group, for the Russian army's failures during the first year of the war. Despite these setbacks, Putin did not dismiss them following Prigozhin's short-lived rebellion in June 2023.
- Shoigu, once close to Putin, saw his position weakened after a major corruption scandal involving one of his deputies in April. Gerasimov remains in his position, although his deputy is under investigation. On the battlefield, Russia's position has seen gradual improvements in recent months.
