International Criminal Court issues arrest warrants for Russia's Shoygu and Gerasimov

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Sergey Shoygu, the former Russian defence minister, and leading Russian general Valery Gerasimov on Tuesday for alleged crimes committed during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Report informs via Reuters.

Shoigu was removed from his post of defence minister last month, and appointed Secretary of Russia's powerful Security Council, in the most significant changes Russian President Vladimir Putin made to his military command since the start of the war in 2022.

The Hague-based court said Shoygu and Gerasimov were suspected of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity for directing attacks against civilians and civilian objects in Ukraine.

Judges had found 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 October 10, 2022 until at least March 9, 2023", the ICC said in a press release.