Moscow charges 92 in Ukraine's military with crimes against humanity

MOSCOW • The head of Russia's investigative committee said Moscow had charged 92 members of Ukraine's armed forces with crimes against humanity and proposed an international tribunal backed by countries including Bolivia, Iran and Syria.

The government's newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta yesterday quoted committee head Alexander Bastrykin as accusing "more than 220 persons, including representatives of the high command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as commanders of military units that shelled the civilian population" of being involved in "crimes against the peace and security of humanity, which have no statute of limitations".

He said 92 commanders and their subordinates had been charged and 96 people, including 51 armed forces commanders, declared wanted.

The United States and over 40 other countries agreed this month to coordinate investigations into suspected war crimes in Ukraine.

Mr Bastrykin was asked about his committee's investigations into Ukrainian security forces' actions in the self-declared people's republics of Donetsk and Luhansk - separatist, Moscow-backed territories in Ukraine's industrialised east - and whether checks could take place under United Nations auspices.

Given that the "collective West" openly backed Ukraine, he said it would be more appropriate to work with Russian partners in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the Collective Security Treaty Organisation, the Brics group and the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation.

It was "expedient" to involve countries with an independent position on Ukraine, "in particular, Syria, Iran and Bolivia", he added.

He said 1,300 criminal investigations had been initiated into members of Ukraine's military and political leadership, with over 400 people held accountable so far.

Targets of investigation included Ukrainian Health Ministry employees whom he accused of developing weapons of mass destruction, as well as citizens of Britain, the US, Canada, the Netherlands and Georgia.

Eight criminal probes had been launched into attacks on Russian embassies or other representations in the Netherlands, Ireland, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and France, he said.

REUTERS