Russia.The International Criminal Court orders the arrest of two Putin loyalists

The International Criminal Court has charged Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Ukraine.

• Shoigu was the Russian Defense Minister until a few weeks ago, Gerasimov is the Army Chief of Staff.
• International Criminal Court judges accuse them of attacks on energy infrastructure and civilians.
• In the past, the Court has issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and other army leaders.

There International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for two loyalists of Vladimir Putin, namely the former defense minister Sergei Shoigu and the Chief of Staff of the Army Valery Gerasimov.The two leaders of Russia are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as part of the invasion ofUkraine, started in February 2022.

This is not the first time that the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Russia:last year he was touched to the president Vladimir Putin.

New arrest warrants

Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov are accused of rioting intentional attacks against Ukrainian civilians and causing excessive harm to people and civil infrastructure.This in the context of the attack onUkraine, particularly in the period between February 2022 and March 2023.

Shoigu was the mDefense Ministry Russian until a few weeks ago, when he was fired by President Vladimir Putin and replaced with Andrei Belusov.He is one of the minds behind the military aggression aimed at Ukraine in 2022, as well as Gerasimov, who since 2023 has become Chief of Staff of the Army and therefore saw a further increase in decision-making power in the war against Kiev.

The judges of the International Criminal Court who issued the arrest warrants they highlighted in particular the Russian attacks against energy infrastructure Ukrainians, but also the attacks on military objectives Ukrainian actions carried out despite the evidence that the side effects on civilians would have been severe and greater than the strategic gains.For this reason Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov were accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The precedents of the International Criminal Court

It is not the first time, since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that Moscow leaders have become the object of arrest warrants from the International Criminal Court.

Before he was touched to the president Vladimir Putin, hit by an international arrest warrant in March 2023, as well as the Russian generals Sergei Kobylash and Viktor Sokolov and to the officer Maria Lvova-Belova.These measures are unlikely to materialize because Russia does not recognize the statute of the International Criminal Court and is therefore not called upon to implement its decisions.Putin and his followers can only be arrested if they travel to a country that recognizes the statute of the Hague Court.

“We hope to see them behind bars,” he commented the president of Ukraine, Volodimir Zelensky.