The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued an arrest warrant for Russia's former defense minister, Sergei Shoigu, and the chief of general staff, Valery Gerasimov.
The ICC judges said the two men were suspected of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity during the war in Ukraine.
The court said there were grounds to believe that Mr. Shoigu and Mr. Gerasimov bore individual criminal responsibility for attacks on civilian targets between October 2022 and March 2023. The court said the civilian damage from the alleged strikes would have been "clearly excessive" to any military advantage gained by Russia.
Mr. Putin himself has been wanted by the ICC since March 2023 on allegations of war crimes, including the unlawful deportation of children from Ukraine to Russia. A warrant was also issued for the arrest of Mr. Putin's Presidential Commissioner for Children's Rights, Maria Lvova-Belova.
However, further action is unclear as the ICC has no powers to arrest suspects and can only exercise jurisdiction within its member countries, which does not include Russia. Ukraine is not a member of the ICC either, but it has accepted the court’s jurisdiction over alleged crimes committed on its territory since November 2013.
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