The Kremlin spokesman said yesterday that Russia “does not recognize” the arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court against two senior Russian officials accused of war crimes in Ukraine.
“We do not recognize” the International Criminal Court’s arrest warrants, said Dmitri Peskov, a Kremlin spokesman. Peskov added that Russia has not ratified the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The two high-ranking officers targeted by the ICC are Serguei Kobylach, commander of the Aerospace Forces’ Long Range Aviation detachment, and Viktor Sokolov, commander of the Black Sea Fleet.
The two soldiers are allegedly 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”, by according to the ICC.
Kobylach and Sokolov are named by the ICC as responsible for the attacks that caused “excessive damage to civilians and non-military assets”.
In spring 2023, the ICC, based in The Hague, Netherlands, also issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Russian Commissioner for Children Maria Lvova-Belova for their “alleged role in the deportation ” of children from Ukraine to Russia. The Kremlin declared that it considered this decision “null and void”.