International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia’s top general, ex-defense minister

The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants Tuesday for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s top general, accusing them of war crimes related to civilian attacks in Ukraine.

Shoigu and Gerasimov are charged with “directing attacks at civilian objects” and “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” along with the “crime against humanity of inhumane acts,” the Hague-based ICC said in a press release.

Specifically, the ICC said there was sufficient evidence that both Gerasimov and Shoigu are responsible for directing attacks between Oct. 10, 2022, until at least March 9, 2023, on Ukrainian energy infrastructure, which has been a major strategy employed by Russian forces during the war.

The targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions, and the ICC said for any potential lawful targets under the Russian operation, the likelihood of civilian harm outweighed the military objective of the attacks.

The arrest warrants were issued by a three-judge panel at the ICC after the prosecution at the court filed evidence in the case.

Shoigu was Russia’s defense minister for years before Russian President Vladimir Putin appointed him as the secretary of his Security Council last month. Gerasimov has been Russia’s chief of the general staff since 2012; he became the top commander overseeing the war in Ukraine in early 2023.

The ICC last year also issued arrest warrants for Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the alleged deportation of Ukrainian children into Russia.

An active warrant means any state that is party to the ICC is obligated to arrest the individual, which could restrict the travel of both Shoigu and Gerasimov. Russia is not party to the court.

The U.S. has previously backed the ICC arrest warrant against Putin and is likely to do the same for Shoigu and Gerasimov. But the U.S. is not party to the ICC and criticized the court last month after the top prosecutor announced he was seeking arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, along with top Hamas officials, for alleged war crimes related to the war in Gaza.