ICC Issues Arrest Orders For Two Russian Generals, Prosecutors: War Has Rules

JAKARTA - The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants against two senior Russian military generals, Lieutenant General Sergei Kobylash and Admiral Viktor Sokolov, over allegations of war crimes in Ukraine.

The Hague-based ICC said there was a plausible reason to believe the two were responsible for "the missile attacks carried out by troops under their command of Ukraine's electric infrastructure from October 10, 2022 to at least March 9, 2023.

"All wars have rules. The rules tie everyone without exception", said ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan, as reported by Reuters on March 6.

The ICC on Tuesday said the attack on Ukraine's power grid caused losses and damage to civilians that clearly exceeded the expected military gains.

Certain details regarding certain incidents and the possibility of the victim being kept secret to protect witnesses and safeguard ongoing investigations, the statement added.

Prosecutor Karim Khan further said that his party would try to cooperate with Russia regarding this matter, although Moscow has so far been reluctant to engage with the ICC.

Prosecutor Khan visited Ukraine in March last year to investigate a campaign of Russian missile and drone attacks against power plants and other infrastructure, killing hundreds of civilians and causing millions of people to lose electricity or water.

Geneva Conventions and additional protocols set up by international courts state that parties involved in military conflict must differentiate between civilian objects and military targets and that attacks on civilian objects are prohibited.

Prosecutors of the ICC also want the indictment to call the attack not only a war crime, but also a crime against humanity because they say the attack is part of a state policy that carried out widespread attacks on civilians.

This is the second arrest warrant for Russian officials on war in Ukraine. In March last year, the ICC issued arrest warrants against Presidents Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova on charges of war crimes related to the kidnapping of Ukrainian children.

Moscow denies war crimes in Ukraine and has rejected a warrant to arrest previous ICC war crimes as part of a biased Western campaign to discredit Russia.

Russian officials said the warrant had little impact on the real world because Moscow was not a member of the court and neither did other major countries, such as the United States and China.

Separately, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the issuance of the arrest warrant.

"Any Russian commander who orders attacks on Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure must know that justice will be upheld. Any such criminals should know that they will be held accountable," he said on social media platform X.

Lieutenant General Kobylash (58) was a long-range Russian air force flight commander at the time of the alleged crime. Ukrainian military intelligence said the Russian attack on the densely populated area of Mariupol City was carried out under his command.

Meanwhile, Admiral Sokolov (61) is the executive in the Russian Navy who led the Black Sea Fleet during the indictment period, according to the ICC.