Russia Indicts 92 Ukrainian Military Of War Crimes: Proposes International Tribunal, Backed By Iran To Syria

Ukraine military illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/Ministry of Defense of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - The head of Russia's investigative committee said Moscow had charged 92 members of the Ukrainian armed forces with crimes against humanity, proposing an international tribunal supported by countries including Bolivia, Iran and Syria as a further step.

Russian state media Rossiiskaya Gazeta on Monday quoted committee head Alexander Bastrykin, accusing "more than 220 people, including representatives of the high command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, as well as commanders of military units of firing on civilians."

Ukrainians are involved in "crimes against the peace and security of humanity, which have no statute of limitations," he said.

Bastrykin, whose committee investigates major crimes, said 92 commanders and subordinates had been charged, and 96 people, including 51 commanders of the armed forces, had been declared fugitives.

Reuters was unable to independently verify the committee's allegations. Ukrainian authorities were not immediately available for comment.

Separately, before Russia's move, the United States and more than 40 other countries agreed earlier this month to coordinate investigations into alleged war crimes in Ukraine.

Since launching what it calls special military operations in February, Russian forces have bombed Ukrainian cities to rubble, leaving bodies on the streets of the towns and villages they occupied. Ukraine says tens of thousands of civilians have been killed. Moscow denies responsibility.

There have also been some reports of Ukrainians persecuting Russian prisoners, although most of the allegations documented by bodies such as the United Nations are alleged atrocities committed by the Russian occupiers and their proxies.

Bastrykin was asked about his committee's investigation into the actions of Ukrainian security forces in the self-declared People's Republic of Donetsk and Lugansk, Moscow-backed separatist regions in Ukraine's industrial east, and whether the investigation could be carried out under the auspices of the United Nations.

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

It is "wise" to involve countries with independent positions in Ukraine, "in particular, Syria, Iran and Bolivia," he added.

Bastrykin said 1,300 criminal investigations had been initiated against members of the Ukrainian military, political leadership, radical nationalist associations and armed formations, with more than 400 people so far held accountable.

The targets of the investigation include Ukrainian health ministry employees whom he has accused, without providing evidence, of developing weapons of mass destruction, as well as citizens of Britain, the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and Georgia.

Known, eight criminal cases have also been launched into attacks on the Russian Embassy or other representatives in the Netherlands, Ireland, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland, Romania and France, he said.