The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Tuesday issued arrest warrants against two senior Russian military officials, the heads of the Strategic Air Force and the Black Sea Fleet, for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
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“Any Russian commander who orders attacks against Ukrainian civilians and critical infrastructure must know that justice will be done,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky reacted on the social network X to the announcement of this measure.
In spring 2023, the ICC based in The Hague also issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin for his role in the deportation of children living in Ukraine.
The two high-ranking officers the court is now targeting are Sergei Kobylach, the commander of the Aerospace Forces' long-range aircraft, and Viktor Sokolov, the commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
They are held responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed when missiles were fired at numerous electrical infrastructures in Ukraine between “at least October 10, 2022 and at least March 9, 2023,” the ICC said.
These men are said to have led these attacks and caused excessive accidental damage to civilians or non-military property.
They are also suspected of being responsible for “inhumane acts” classified as crimes against humanity, the court said.
There is reason to believe “that they bear individual criminal responsibility for the above-mentioned crimes,” she said.
Either because they committed the acts together or through others, or by ordering the crimes to be committed, or because they were unable to control the men under their command, the ICC added.
“I have repeatedly emphasized that those responsible for actions affecting innocent civilians or protected property must be aware that such conduct is governed by a set of rules reflected in international humanitarian law,” he said in a statement. ICC prosecutor Karim Khan.
“All wars have rules. “These rules apply to everyone without exception,” he added.
“Several months of work”
According to the state press agency TASS, Sergei Kobylach, born on April 1, 1965 in Odessa in southern Ukraine – then one of the fifteen units that made up the USSR – was initially a fighter-bomber pilot. He took part in the two Chechen wars as well as the Russian offensive against Georgia in August 2008, during which his SU-25 aircraft was hit by fire and he ejected.
According to the Russian Defense Ministry's website, the long-range aircraft he has commanded since September 16, 2016 is part of the nuclear deterrent force.
It consists of strategic bombers, tankers and reconnaissance aircraft and is equipped with cruise missiles, bombs and other conventional or nuclear munitions. Its main task is to attack air bases “at strategic depth”, aircraft carriers, military industries, political centers, ports and energy infrastructure of the enemy.
Viktor Sokolov was born on April 4, 1962 in Moldova, then also a Soviet republic, and served in the Pacific Fleet for more than 20 years before becoming deputy commander of the Northern Fleet between 2013 and 2020, then becoming head of the Black Sea Fleet in September 2022, we find out in his official biography.
The ICC, founded in 2002 to judge the world's worst crimes, launched an investigation into possible war crimes or crimes against humanity shortly after the start – in February 2022 – of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
Neither Russia nor Ukraine are members, but the latter country has accepted the court's jurisdiction on its territory and is cooperating with the prosecutor's office.
Ukrainian Prosecutor General Andriy Kostin, who attended a meeting of European justice ministers in Brussels on Tuesday, expressed “gratefulness” to Karim Khan.
“It took several months of dedicated work by Ukrainian prosecutors, investigators and various Ukrainian authorities, who provided the ICC Prosecutor’s Office with thousands of pieces of evidence and information,” Kostin said.
The ICC's 123 member states are obliged to execute arrest warrants against Mr Putin, Sergei Kobylach and Viktor Sokolov when they visit their territory.
Since the court does not have its own police force, the enforcement of arrest warrants relies on international cooperation.