Lawyers Find Allegation Russian Troop Commander Knows or Ordered Sexual Violence in Ukraine

Illustration of the Russian army in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

JAKARTA - International criminal lawyers who are assisting in war crimes investigations say there is evidence that Russian commanders in some cases knew of sexual violence by military personnel in Ukraine "and in some cases, encouraged it or even ordered it."

Lawyer Wayne Jordash told Reuters, as quoted on November 24, in several areas around the capital Kyiv in the north, some of the sexual assaults involved a level of organization by the Russian armed forces which speaks of planning on a more systematic level. However, he did not identify any specific individuals under surveillance.

The findings, previously underreported by investigators about the commander's alleged role and the systematic nature of attacks at multiple locations, are part of a pattern of alleged sexual violence that emerged as Russia's war in Ukraine entered its ninth month.

Jordash, who was part of a Western-backed team providing legal expertise to Ukraine, said it was too early to conclude how widespread the practice was, as investigations into the recently recaptured northeastern and southern regions were at an early stage.

However, the pattern suggests that sexual violence "may be even more frequent" in territories occupied for a long time, he added, without providing evidence.

Reuters interviewed more than twenty people who worked with the alleged victim, including law enforcement, doctors and lawyers, as well as the alleged rape victim and other family members.

They share accounts of alleged sexual violence by Russian armed forces that occurred in various parts of Ukraine, many of which allege family members were forced to watch or that some soldiers participated or acts carried out at gunpoint.

Illustration of Russian soldiers in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/Mil.ru)

Reuters was unable to independently corroborate the report. Several circumstances, including family members witnessing rape, emerged in the alleged attack by Russia that the UN-mandated investigative agency documented in a report published last month, saying the victims ranged in age from four to over 80 years.

In northern Ukraine's Chernihiv region, a soldier in Russia's 80th tank regiment in March repeatedly sexually assaulted a girl and threatened to kill her family members, according to a Chernihiv district court ruling.

A court this month found 31-year-old Ruslan Kuliyev and another Russian soldier that Kuliyev was superior guilty of war crimes in absentia for assaulting local residents, the ruling said.

Kuliyev, who the court said was a senior lieutenant, and the other servicemen could not be reached for comment.

Rape can be considered a war crime under the Geneva Conventions which set international legal standards for the conduct of armed conflict.

Widespread or systematic sexual violence can amount to crimes against humanity, which are generally considered more serious, legal experts say.

Moscow, which claims its campaign in Ukraine as a special military operation, has denied committing war crimes or targeting civilians.

Responding to Reuters questions about allegations of sexual violence by the Russian military in Ukraine, including whether commanders were aware of it and whether it was systematic, the Kremlin's press service said it was denying "such allegations".

Meanwhile, the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine said Moscow's war on Ukraine was "aimed at exterminating the Ukrainian people" and sexual violence was one of Russia's crimes "intended to spread a state of terror, causing suffering and fear among the civilian population of Ukraine."

"There are indications that sexual violence was used as a weapon of war," Pramila Patten, Special Representative to the UN Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict, cited circumstances such as rape in the presence of family members, gang rape and forced nudity.

Kyiv itself says it is examining tens of thousands of reports, as part of an investigation into alleged war crimes by Russian military personnel. Sexual violence accounts for only a small part of that. The Ukraine inquiry is at the center of multiple efforts to investigate potential war crimes related to the conflict, including by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.