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The Main Investigations Directorate of the Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal investigation in mass shelling from Grad, Uragan, self-propelled artillery Akatsiya (Acacia) and Gvozdika (Carnation) and other heavy weapons, including using incendiary shells, which took place between 01.01.2015 and 12.01.2015 in the towns of Donetsk, Gorlovka, Dokuchayevsk and Olenovka and other towns and villages. The shelling attacks claimed lives of 40 people and over 120 more were wounded, destructed or damaged houses, facilities of social structure and communications in Donbass.

In all, since the beginning of the so-called antiterrorist attack in southeast of Ukraine over 4,800 people have been killed, over 10,500 more were wounded, over 1,000 houses, facilities of social structure and communications were destroyed or damaged leaving over 500,000 citizens homeless and forcing them to seek refuge in the Russian Federation.

Actions of top political and military leaders of Ukraine that are commanding that so-called antiterrorist operation in southeast of Ukraine and their subordinates commanders of nationalistic battalions Aidar, Azov and Dnepr are qualified no other than genocide (article 357 of the RF Penal Code), that is killing the Russian-speaking group of the population. The said criminal case will be joined with the one opened earlier over use of prohibited means and methods of war.

It should be noted that such actions of Ukrainian military clique are classified as very serious crimes not only in Russia, but under international law as well. Namely, in Protocol on cease-fire in southeast of Ukraine (Minsk, 05.09.2014) and Memorandum to it (Minsk, 19.09.2014), as well as provisions of the Convention on Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War (Geneva, 12.08.1949) and Additional Protocol II to it, Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects (New York, 10.10.1980), Convention on Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Paris, 09.12.1948) and others.

This is not the first criminal case opened by the Russia’s Investigative Committee regarding killings civilians in Donbass, including old people, children, journalists and Russian citizens. Apparantly, trying to hide the names of military men from wider public, Ukrainian commanders hoping that nobody will know them have made rotation. But they are deeply wrong about that! There are no doubts that in this case as well Russian investigators will do their best and exert every legal means at their disposal to not only find out the names of those newly-made “fighters” with civilians of Donbass and add to the list of those under investigation, but to give publicity to them so that the whole world would know who are to be blamed of all those unlawful actions and atrocities in southeast of Ukraine. It looks most cynical that the whole world stood as one in response to the tragedy in France and in the same way all as one do not see more cynical and barbarian crimes committed daily by Ukrainian authorities in Donbass.

as for legal bases for prosecution of Ukrainian military men and mercenaries, Russian law in accordance with the part 3 of article 12 of the RF Penal Code gives us the right to prosecute foreign citizens who have committed a crime outside the Russian Federation in cases that crime was directed against a Russian citizen and cases provided for by international agreements of the Russian Federation, if foreign citizens were not convicted in a foreign state and are prosecuted in the Russian Federation.

Head of Media Relations                                                                                                     V.I. Markin