'There Ought To Be Accountability:' U.S. Backs ICC Arrest Warrants For Shoigu, Gerasimov

The United States on Tuesday supported the International Criminal Courts arrest warrants for former Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu and Valery Gerasimov, Russia’s top general, accusing them of war crimes in Ukraine, TURAN's Washington correspondent reports.

Shoigu and Gerasimov are charged with “directing attacks at civilian objects” and “causing excessive incidental harm to civilians or damage to civilian objects,” along with the “crime against humanity of inhumane acts,” the Hague-based ICC said in a statement.

Washington welcomed the decision. "We have made clear that there have been atrocities committed by Russian forces in their illegal invasion of Ukraine and that there ought to be accountability for those atrocities" State Department's Spokesperson Matthew Miller told TURAN's correspondent during a daily briefing.

"We support a range of international investigations into Russia’s atrocities in Ukraine, including the one conducted by the ICC," Miller added.

The targeting of civilians and civilian infrastructure is a war crime under the Geneva Conventions. The ICC last year also issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and his children’s rights commissioner, Maria Lvova-Belova, for the deportation of Ukrainian children into Russia.