Over 1,300 criminal cases have been launched since the start of conflict in Ukraine, Russia’s Investigative Committee chief says
The body of a minibus driver killed in a shelling in Donetsk, the capital of the People’s Republic of Donetsk. © Sputnik / Sergey Averin
Over 1,300 criminal cases have been launched over crimes believed to have been committed by the Ukrainian military and its officials during the conflict between Moscow and Kiev, Russia’s Investigative Committee chief Alexander Bastrykin said on Monday.
Russian investigators are looking into possible illegal actions by “the representatives of the military and political leadership of [Ukraine], members of radical nationalist units, as well as the representatives of Ukrainian armed formations,” Bastrykin told newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta in an interview.
More than 1,300 criminal cases, involving over 400 individuals, have been launched over violations committed by the Ukrainian side since the start of Russia’s military operation on February 24, he said.
According to Bastrykin, preliminary probes have already found more than 220 suspects, “including representatives of the high command of the Ukrainian armed forces and commanders of military units which fired at civilians, to have been involved in crimes against the peace and security of mankind, which don’t have a statute of limitations.”
Charges have so far been pressed against 92 Ukrainian commanders and their subordinates, with 96 suspects being placed on the wanted list, he added.
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“There can be no justification to the use of force by the Ukrainian nationalists,” the Investigative Committee chief insisted. “They are intensively shelling the People’s Republics of Donetsk and Lugansk. They brutally and cynically target peaceful citizens, civilian infrastructure, including children’s institutions.”
He also accused the Ukrainian forces of having struck their own territory “in order to blame the Russian military for this.”
During the conflict, Moscow has insisted that its troops never target civilians, only hitting Ukrainian forces and military infrastructure.
More than 7,000 civilian facilities have been destroyed in attacks from the Ukrainian side, including homes, schools and kindergartens, with over 91,000 people being designated as victims, Bastrykin stressed.
Criminal cases have also been launched against citizens of the UK, the US, Canada, Georgia and the Netherlands for their involvement in the conflict as mercenaries, as well as cases of torture of Russian POWs by members of Ukrainian nationalist units, of attacks against Russian embassies in foreign countries, and for other acts, he said.
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“It’s paramount to keep objectively informing the international community about what has been happening [in Ukraine] in recent months,” the Investigative Committee chief insisted.
Last month, the since-fired Ukrainian Prosecutor General Irina Venediktova announced that her agency had launched more than 16,500 criminal cases against the Russian military. Around 200 such cases are being initiated every day, she said.
