RUSSIA: Moscow has charged 92 members of the Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity, the head of Russia’s investigative committee has said.
According to the Russian official Alexander Bastrykin, more than 1,300 criminal investigations have been opened.
He also advocated for an international court supported by Bolivia, Iran, and Syria.
“Some 96 people, including 51 armed forces commanders, are wanted. The Ukrainians were involved in crimes against the peace and security of humanity,” he said.
Ukraine is also conducting its own investigations. Last month, the country stated that it was looking into more than 21,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression that Russian forces were alleged to have committed since the incursion began in February.
An investigation and forensics team has been dispatched to Ukraine by the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has referred to it as a “crime scene.”
The Kremlin denies the existence of any war crimes and the targeting of civilians. It has frequently accused Ukraine of launching missiles at its own infrastructure and killing its own civilians—accusations that are widely disputed by world leaders.
A trial supported by the UN is “very dubious,” according to Bastrykin, who said that the West openly supports “Ukrainian nationalism.”
Moscow has frequently used the erroneous assertion that neo-Nazis had taken over Ukraine as justification for what it refers to as a “special military operation.”
Instead, Bastrykin advocated for the establishment of an international tribunal including nations that “have an independent view on the Ukrainian issue,” particularly Syria, Iran, and Bolivia.
He claimed that investigations are being conducted into Ukrainian health ministry officials as well as hundreds of military and political targets, accusing them of producing WMDs without any supporting data.
According to him, authorities are looking into possible mercenaries from the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands, and Georgia.
In June, a Russian stand-in court in eastern Ukraine executed two Britons and a Moroccan who had been seized while defending Ukraine.
The families of the three Britons, Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner, and Brahim Saaudun, have stated that their loved ones are longtime Ukrainian military personnel despite the trio being accused of being mercenaries.
In May, the first war crimes trial since the invasion started in Ukraine took place, when a judge sentenced a Russian tank commander to life in prison for the murder of a civilian.
Also Read: Russia- Ukraine War: Zelenskky Accuses Russia of ‘barbarism’ over Odesa Attack
