Adedokun Waliyu 
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued arrest warrants for two top Russian officials, Defence Minister Sergey Shoigu and General Valery Gerasimov, alleging their involvement in war crimes committed during the Ukraine conflict.
However, Russia has repeatedly refused to recognise the ICC’s jurisdiction and has dismissed similar accusations in the past, indicating a likely refusal to cooperate with the warrants.
Sergey Shoigu, who led the Russian Defence Ministry from 2012 to 2024, was at the helm during the initial two years of the ongoing Ukraine conflict. He was replaced by Andrey Belousov last month and reassigned as Secretary of the Security Council by President Vladimir Putin.
The ICC’s move to issue an arrest warrant for Shoigu is likely to exacerbate tensions between Russia and the international community, further straining already fraught relations.
Valery Gerasimov has served as Russia’s General of the Army since 2012 and has been instrumental in Moscow’s military operations against Ukraine.
According to a press release issued by the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber II on Tuesday, Gerasimov and Shoigu are alleged to have committed war crimes between October 2022 and March 2023, as reported by RT.
The ICC’s accusations highlight the significant role both officials have played in Russia’s military actions.
According to the statement, Shoigu and Gerasimov are both “allegedly responsible for the war crime of directing attacks at civilian objects and the war crime of causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects, and the crime against humanity of inhumane acts”.
The court further claimed that “there are reasonable grounds to believe they bear individual criminal responsibility.”
Among other accusations, the ICC singled out Russian strikes targeting Ukrainian power plants.
