The International Criminal Court seeks the arrest of Russian officials for war crimes and inhumane acts in connection with the attacks in Ukraine

The International Criminal Court announced on Tuesday that it had issued arrest warrants for Russia’s former defense minister and its military chief of staff over attacks on Ukrainian power plants. This is the third time the International Criminal Court has indicted high-ranking Russian leaders for war crimes.

There is no immediate likelihood that former Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu or Chief of General Staff Valery Gerasimov will be imprisoned for war crimes and crimes against humanity for inhumane acts. Russia is not a member of the court, does not recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to extradite suspects.

However, the arrest warrant condemns the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 even more morally.

The order is the latest attempt by the world court to intervene in a major conflict. Last year, the court issued an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, accusing him of personal responsibility for the abductions of children from Ukraine. This has hampered his travel on occasion, although the practical impact has been limited.

The Russian Security Council dismissed the arrest warrants as “invalid” on Tuesday.

“This is empty talk, considering that Russia does not fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC and the decision was made within the framework of the West’s hybrid war against our country,” it said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.

The court said in a statement that the arrest warrants were issued on Monday because the judges considered that there were sufficient grounds to believe that Shoigu and Gerasimov were responsible for “missile attacks by Russian forces on Ukraine’s electrical infrastructure” from at least October 10, 2022, until March 9, 2023.

Judges who granted prosecutors’ request for arrest warrants said the suspects were accused of inhumane acts because there was evidence that they had “intentionally caused great suffering or serious injury to the body or to the mental or physical health” of civilians in Ukraine. Under the leadership of Shoigu and Gerasimov, the Russian military has launched waves of missile and drone strikes that have killed thousands and damaged the country’s energy system and other vital infrastructure.

Moscow has insisted that it only targeted military installations despite daily casualties in civilian areas. The court claimed that the missile strikes covered by the order targeted civilian facilities.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the orders in a post on the social media platform “These barbaric missile and drone attacks continue to kill people and cause damage across Ukraine.”/AP/