The US State Department says the US supports the International Criminal Court's investigations into Shoigu and Gerasimov

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The United States supports the International Criminal Court (ICC) investigation into Sergei Shoigu, secretary of the Russian Security Council, and Valery Gerasimov, chief of the General Staff of the Russian Army, for war crimes against Ukraine, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said on June 25.

The International Criminal Court had previously issued arrest warrants for Shoigu and Gerasimov for their role in carrying out Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure between October 2022 and March 2023. Shoigu was Russian Defense Minister at the time of the alleged war crimes.

When asked about the U.S. response to the arrest warrants, Miller said: “We support a number of international investigations into Russian atrocities in Ukraine, including that conducted by the International Criminal Court.”

“We have made clear that Russian forces committed atrocities in their illegal invasion of Ukraine and that there must be accountability for these atrocities.”

Miller did not say whether the US is actively assisting the ICC investigation or sharing evidence, and did not specifically mention the arrest warrants. Neither the US nor Russia are parties to the ICC.

As a result, the relationship between the United States and the court is complicated.

President Joe Biden said he welcomed the ICC’s March 2023 arrest warrants against Russian President Vladimir Putin and Maria Lvova-Belova, the Presidential Commissioner for Children’s Rights, for the forcible transfer of children from Russian-occupied parts of Ukraine.

Biden has also reportedly directed his administration to hand over evidence to the ICC to assist in the investigation into Russian war crimes.

At the same time, the ICC’s recent announcement that it would seek an arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for alleged war crimes in the Gaza Strip sparked a swift response from Biden and other senior U.S. officials.

Biden called Netanyahu’s arrest warrant “outrageous” and Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration was prepared to work with Congress to potentially impose sanctions on ICC officials in response.

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