The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two Russian war officials after it found that they had bombed Ukrainian electrical infrastructure.
Knewz.com has learned that Sergei Shoigu, Russia’s former minister of defense, and Valery Gerasimov who served as the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces were named.
The international agency released a statement from its base in the Hague citing that “missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure.”
The statement referred to the Rome Statute dealing with “serious crimes of international concern” and further claimed that the two ministers were responsible for war crimes “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects.”
“During this time frame,” it continued, “a large number of strikes against numerous electric power plants and substations were carried out by the Russian armed forces in multiple locations in Ukraine.”
It further noted that “two warrants of arrest were issued following applications filed by the prosecution.”
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has since weighed in on the development. In an X update, he said: “I welcome today’s arrest warrants issued by @IntlCrimCourt for two key figures in Russian military leadership.”
“Both are accused of committing heinous crimes against civilians in Ukraine during Russia's reckless bombing of Ukrainian critical civilian infrastructure.”
“These barbaric missile and drone strikes continue to kill people and inflict damage across Ukraine,” the defending country’s leader said.
“Every criminal involved in the planning and execution of these strikes must know that justice will be served. And we do hope to see them behind bars.”
Russia, per Novaya Gazeta, has since indicated that it does not recognize the ICC’s authority.
This is not the first time the ICC has directed warrants of arrest at the Russian seat of power. On March 17, 2023, the same court issueda statement accusing President Vladimir Putin and his underling, Maria Lvova-Belova, of illegally deporting Ukraine’s children.
It further stated that Putin failed “to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission.”
The statement went on to say that it had reasonable cause to believe that Lvova-Belova was “responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population.”
Putin’s cronies reacted vociferously to the legal motion with former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev saying that it was “a call to overthrow the government in Russia.”
“Alas, gentlemen, everyone walks under God and missiles. It is quite possible to imagine a targeted use of a hypersonic Onyx from the North Sea from a Russian ship at the Hague courthouse. It cannot be shot down, alas. And the court is just a wretched international organization, not the population of NATO countries. That’s why they won’t start a war. They’ll be afraid. And no one will be sorry,” his tirade on Telegram read.
The Russian government also opened up criminal cases against the three ICC judges who issued the arrest warrant against Putin.
The ICC’s most recent arrest warrant brings the total number of Russian individuals wanted by the Hague in connection to the war in Ukraine to eight.
