Arrest warrants issued against Russian army chief and former minister

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for Russia’s Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov and former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
In a statement, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for alleged war crimes of causing extreme casualty to civilians as well as crimes against humanity of “inhuman acts” in Ukraine.
“There are reasonable grounds to assume responsibility for the missile attacks by the Russian Armed Forces against Ukrainian electrical infrastructure from at least October 10, 2022, to March 9, 2023,” the ICC judge said.
The court said that although the attacks were “directed against civilian objects” and that the target could be considered military, the civilian casualties would have been “manifestly excessive for the expected military advantage”.

The court had issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin in March of last year. The decision was called “invalid” by Moscow. In response, Russia issued an arrest warrant against the president of the ICC.

The Hague-based ICC has no police force of its own to enforce arrest warrants. It depends on its 124-member judiciary to implement it.

In theory, any arrest under the warrant is prohibited from visiting ICC member states.

Putin has visited foreign countries, especially Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates, which are not ICC members.