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Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, the Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, chaired an offsite meeting of the field headquarters investigating the crimes committed by representatives of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and nationalist units against the civilian population and Russian military personnel in the territory of the Lugansk and Donetsk People’s Republics, as well as Ukraine. The event was attended by Eduard Valerievich Kaburneev, the First Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Konstantin Evgenievich Korpusov, the acting Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation – the acting head of the Main Military Investigation Department, executives, investigators and criminologists of a number of departments of the Central Office, including the Main Investigative Department, as well as the military investigative authorities of the IC of Russia.

At the meeting, A.I. Bastrykin was informed about the preliminary results of the work of the IC departments involved in the investigation of the crimes of the Kiev regime. Earlier, a number persons who had supported Ukrainian nationalist views and the policy of genocide of the civilian population were sentenced. The identification of all the perpetrators is ongoing. For the time being, the IC of Russia has initiated 776 criminal cases, of which 96 cases have been initiated by military investigative authorities. As part of only one criminal case on the shelling of the city of Shchastie, carried out from February 27 to February 28 by the 57th brigade and the 27th rocket artillery brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, almost 1,900 people – including 16 children – were interrogated as victims. All of them were recognized as civil plaintiffs, and they filed claims for compensation for damages in the amount of more than 1.7 billion rubles. In total, more than 5,600 civilians – including 56 children – were recognized as victims as interrogated as part of criminal cases investigated by military investigators only; the total amount of filed claims exceeds 4.851 billion rubles.

As part of the investigation of criminal cases, more than 280 suspects were identified by name. In the past week alone, the data of about 10 more new suspects involved in attacks on the civilian population became known. In particular, these are major Oleksander Sikoza, the commander of the air assault battalion of the 36th Marine Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and captain Nikita Vitek, the commander of the fire support company of the same brigade, major Roman Primak, the head of the support forces service of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade, captain Rostislav Dorosh, the commander of the engineering support group of the 53rd separate mechanized brigade, and his subordinate captain Dmytro Kornyukhin. At the same time, there is evidence that Dorosh publicly called on all subordinates to “humiliate and kill the Russian-speaking population, destroy the Russian nation.”

Under the investigation of criminal cases, investigators continue to build an evidence base, which – among other things – is based on information about the locations of Ukrainian military personnel, their number and degree of equipment, the results of media monitoring, including documented facts of provocations and the use of the “human shield” tactics by Ukrainian nationalists, as well as interrogations of about 2,500 captured Ukrainian servicemen. These persons report the presence of a foreign contingent at the disposal of the military units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as details on weapons, their types and quantity. At least 16 different armed units have been formed on the territory of Ukraine, which include mercenaries who have arrived from more than 50 countries. The international legion of territorial defense of Ukraine, which is exclusively comprised of foreigners, is funded by the Kiev authorities. The investigation establishes their data for subsequent prosecution. Investigators are also inspecting the scenes of incidents, scheduling and conducting a number of forensic examinations, looking for witnesses, continuing interrogations of the victims. Currently, more than 300 military investigators are operating on the territory of Donbass. All actions are being taken with the strong assistance of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation and colleagues from the law enforcement agencies of Donbass.

A.I. Bastrykin was informed about the investigation into the circumstances of conducting R&D projects on the territory of Ukraine aimed at creating elements of biological weapons, their funding by foreign governments, in particular, the United States. The analysis of the received documents made it possible to clearly identify the circle of persons associated with military biological activities in Ukraine, including representatives of the U.S. Department of Defense and American contractor companies.

The head of the IC noted that the atrocities of the Ukrainian regime are increasingly becoming obvious to the world community, foreign media are publishing data on the use of prohibited weapons by nationalists against the civilian population. At the same time, the Ukrainian media, with the help of modern information technologies, have launched a media war, which produces and massively replicates fake news about the actions of our military. The Investigative Committee of Russia promptly responds to the false accusations of the Kiev regime and prosecutes those who disseminate deliberately false information about the use of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation.

Given the amount of evidence received, the head of the IC demanded that prompt actions be taken to complete the preliminary investigation. He noted that the results of the investigation should be clear and easy-to-see. The activities of bringing to justice the perpetrators from among the command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine will make it possible to finalize and demonstrate in action the mechanism for bringing war criminals to criminal responsibility.