The ICC Releases Warrants Against Two Russian Officers
“The ICC said the latest warrants were due to there being reasonable grounds to believe that the two suspects were responsible for ‘missile strikes carried out by the forces under their command against the Ukrainian electric infrastructure’. The alleged crimes took place between October 2022 and March 2023,” the ICC said (BBC News website).
Is Targeting a Country’s Electrical Grid a War Crime?
During the Second World War, the Allies systematically targeted the German industrial muscle, including power generation capabilities (there’s a song about “Dam Busters”). The USAF systematically targeted the grid in Korea, Vietnam, and Iraq.
In Korea, 90% of the power generation capabilities were destroyed. In Vietnam, systematic attacks on the grid started with Rolling Thunder 52 (1967): eight power plants were nominated to the President of the United States for attacks, with the aim of eliminating power in the Red River Valley. President Johnson approved attacks on all Vietnamese thermal power plants with the exception of those in Hanoi and Haiphong. By 1972, 90% of North Vietnamese power generation had been wiped off the map.
In 1991 in Iraq, 215 sorties were dedicated solely to targeting electric power generation or electric power transportation nodes. (Data: Strategic Attack of National Electrical Systems by Thomas Griffith Jr. Major, USAF).
NATO’s Air Campaign Over Serbia and Kosovo
Let’s look at a speech from Jamie Shea who was NATO Secretary General in 1999 during the alliance’s air campaign over Serbia and Kosovo. The speech is dated May 25th, 1999, and can be found on NATO’s own website. It relates to NATO warplanes systematically targeting the Serb grid.
“Let me make this clear. What we are doing is we are attacking the military facilities of Belgrade. That electricity, those facilities, drive the military machine of Milosevic, that is why they are a target. Milosevic has plenty of back-up generators, he has lots, he has got hundreds. It is up to him, it is up to him to decide if he wants to use those generators for his hospitals and his schools, or his educational establishments – although they seem to all be closed – or whether he wants to use them to keep his military machine running. If that is a headache for him, good, I am not going to apologize for that, we want him to have those kinds of headaches.” (https://www.nato.int/kosovo/press/b990525a.htm)
USAF Doctrine on Targeting the Grid
Targeting the grid is actually an integral part of the USAF doctrine. It has unfortunate side effects on the civilian population but it is part of the equation. If destroying or damaging the grid impacts military production and logistics, then those nodes are lawful military targets.
One can bet the ICC will never issue warrants for ex (or future) NATO officers, even in similar situations. -RBM
