ICC issues war crimes arrest warrants for Putin's top general

The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Russia's chief of the General Staff Valery Gerasimov and former defence minister Sergei Shoigu (pictured right)- who was recently sacked by Vladimir Putin. Warrants were issued for the alleged war crimes of directing attacks at civilian objects and causing excessive incidental harm to civilians, as well as the crime against humanity of 'inhumane acts' in Ukraine, the ICC said in a statement.

ICC judges said there were 'reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile strikes carried out by the Russian armed forces against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure from at least 10 October 2022 until at least 9 March 2023.'

The court said these strikes were 'directed against civilian objects' and even when targets could be considered military, civilian damage 'would have been clearly excessive to the anticipated military advantage.' The court issued an arrest warrant for President Vladimir Putin in March last year, a ruling that Moscow called 'void'. Russia levelled its own warrant against the ICC's president in response.

Ukraine's presidential chief of staff applauded the ICC's move to issue the arrest warrants, saying it was 'an important decision'. 'Shoigu and Gerasimov bear individual responsibility... [They] will held be responsible for evil,' Andriy Yermak said on Telegram.

The ICC, based in The Hague, does not have its own police force for enforcing the arrest warrants. It relies on the justice system of its 124 members to carry them out. In theory, anyone under a warrant is prevented from travelling to an ICC member state for fear of arrest.

Putin has travelled abroad, notably to Kyrgyzstan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - not ICC members.

However, he did skip a meeting of the BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa) in South Africa, which would have been expected to carry out the warrant.

It comes after Shoigu was ousted in the most significant reshuffle of Russia's military command since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine began in February 2022. The move appeared to be an astonishing snub to Shoigu, a close ally and friend of Putin's and Russia 's longest serving minister.

Putin replaced him with little-known civilian economist Andrey Belousov, who has been described by commentators as a 'puppet'. His appointment has been seen by many as a signal that Putin aims to take a greater personal role in war tactics. Russia renewed a campaign of aerial attacks on Ukrainian energy facilities in March, which Kyiv says knocked out half of its power generating capacity and forced Ukraine to introduce rolling blackouts in the capital and across the country.

Russia says energy infrastructure is a legitimate military target and denies targeting civilians or civilian infrastructure . The attacks have spurred concerns about the resilience of Ukraine's ailing power system in the cold winter months after a series of harsh winters in the war-torn country. The Kyiv School of Economics estimates Ukraine's energy sector has sustained $16.1 billion in direct losses since Russia's February 2022 invasion.

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