The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) has asked the prosecutor's office of the International Criminal Court to issue an arrest warrant for six Russian officials and propagandists for committing crimes against humanity.
They asked for arrest warrants to be issued against Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev, First Deputy Head of the Presidential Administration Alexei Gromov, TV host Vladimir Solovyov, RT editor-in-chief Margarita Simonyan, TV host Dmitry Kiselyov and anchor Sergei Mardan.
Human rights activists accuse them of inciting hatred against peaceful Ukrainians and justifying Russia's war crimes.
“All of them participated in the campaign of hatred against Ukrainian civilians, encouraging and supporting war crimes and other atrocities of Russia,” the statement reads.
Separately, the appeal mentions the first deputy head of the presidential administration, Alexei Gromov, who, according to the human rights activists' version, allegedly gives “written and verbal instructions that determine the main propaganda narratives” for major Russian media outlets.
The human rights activists point out that since 2014, Russian state TV channels, radio and social media “regularly feature calls for the destruction of Ukraine and repression of Ukrainians who oppose Russian aggression, derogatory statements portraying them as Nazis, and other forms of hate speech.”
FIDH analyzed more than two thousand video clips of statements made by six officials and propagandists between February 24, 2022 and February 24, 2024. More than 300 statements, as noted, constitute hate speech amounting to a crime against humanity.
Recall, in March 2023, the ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin and the Commissioner for Children's Rights Maria Lvova-Belova. They are charged with responsibility for the illegal deportation of children from the occupied territories of Ukraine to Russia. As the ICC explained, there are “reasonable grounds” to believe that the Russian president bears personal responsibility for this.
