World Criminal Court:

Arrest warrants issued against Russian officers

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has issued two arrest warrants for senior Russian officers. This is due to alleged war crimes in Ukraine, such as missile attacks on civilian targets between October 2022 and March 2023.

According to the court in The Hague, Sergei Kobylash (58) is a lieutenant general and commander of the Russian Air Force's long-range aviation forces. The second alleged war criminal is Viktor Sokolov, Admiral of the Navy and former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet. The two men are accused of being responsible for missile attacks on power stations. They are also accused of crimes against humanity, as the attacks caused serious harm to the civilian population.

The court in the Netherlands announced on Tuesday that there are "sufficient grounds to believe that the two suspects bear responsibility for missile attacks carried out by the units under their command against the Ukrainian power grid".

Arrest warrants against Putin and children's rights commissioner
A year ago, the International Criminal Court had already issued arrest warrants for Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Russian Commissioner for Children's Rights. They are accused of war crimes such as the abduction and forced adoption of Ukrainian children to Russia.

The Russian government does not recognize the court (see video above), while the Ukrainian government does, but is not a fully-fledged contractual partner. The prosecutor is nevertheless allowed to investigate, which began in spring 2022.