News

Two probes launched in shelling civilian population of southeast Ukraine

The Head Office of the Investigative Committee has established more occasions on which heavy artillery was used against civilian population in southeast Ukraine. According to Article 12 of the RF Criminal Code, foreign citizens who have committed crimes outside the Russian Federation are liable under the RF Criminal Code in cases provided for by the RF Investigation Agreement if they have not been convicted in a foreign state. Considering this, two cases have been opened in the use of prohibited means and methods of warfare under Part 1 of Article 356 of the RF Criminal Code.

According to investigators, on 23 and 28 June 2017, Ukrainian military servants of the Armed Forces and National Guard violated the Minsk Protocol and its Memorandum, the Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (Geneva, 1949) and its follow-up protocol II when following criminal orders of higher commanders from the Ministry of Defense they fired heavy artillery weapons at civilian infrastructure located in the settlement of Staromikhailovka and the town of Stakhanov.

1 local resident was killed, a child was wounded and several houses were damaged. The motive of the crimes was as before political and ideological hatred as the population of the southeastern Ukraine refuse to recognize the current authority as legitimate and want to create isolated administrative-territorial entities.

The RF investigative Committee keeps on documenting crimes against peace and security of the humanity committed against the civilian population of Donbass and identifying the guilty ones.

Official spokesperson for the RF Investigative Committee                                                                               S. Petrenko