The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia holds a brief-meeting in Severodonetsk

In the Severodonetsk city, the Lugansk People's Republic, Mr. Alexander Ivanovich Bastrykin, Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, held a brief-meeting of the headquarters for the investigation of crimes committed by Ukrainian armed groups against civilians and Russian military personnel on the territory of the LPR, DPR and Ukraine. It was attended by Mr. Eduard Valerievich Kaburneev, First Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Mr. Konstantin Evgenievich Korpusov, Deputy Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia - Head of the Main Military Investigation Directorate, Mr. Anatoly Ivanovich Sazonov, acting Head of the Main Directorate of Criminalistics of the Investigative Committee of Russia, Mr. Mikhail Anatolyevich Ignashkin, Deputy Director of the Forensic Expert Center of the Investigative Committee, Senior Staff, Officers of the Main Investigative Units, including the Main Investigative Directorate, and the Military Investigative Bodies of the Investigative Committee of Russia.

The Head of the department was informed about the current results of the investigation of the crimes committed by the Ukrainian nationalists against the peace and security of mankind. In total, 44 files of criminal cases have been submitted to the relevant authorities of the DPR and LPR so far. Investigation work on those has been finalized. The staff of the Investigative Committee of Russia, in cooperation with the FSB and the Federal Penitentiary Service of Russia, continues their work to identify and prosecute other participants of the Ukrainian Military Formations. Additionally, over the past week, 8 Ukrainian nationalists were identified as participants of crimes against civilian population.

Along with the previously filed criminal cases for the transfer to the Prosecutor's Offices of the DPR and LPR, four more criminal cases have been filed against the commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are the commanders of the 79th separate air assault brigade, Mr. Kurach, the 93rd separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Mr. Mikats and Mr. Brizhinsky, and the 30th separate mechanized brigade, Mr. Garaz.

The Investigative Directorate of the Investigative Committee of Russia has been established in Donetsk. It includes several Territorial Investigative Units with deployment in Donbas and other cities of Ukraine liberated from the Nazis.

At the meeting, it was noted that the vast majority of crimes were committed intentionally, with the targeted use of guided precision weapons. At the same time, such deliberate acts are committed by the Kiev regime against Ukrainian military personnel. So, in order to eliminate witnesses of the crimes committed by Ukraine, a blow was struck at the pre-trial detention center in Yelenovka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were kept. The accuracy of fire, as well as other circumstances, confirm that these were deliberate, planned actions by the Ukrainian side using NATO long-range artillery weapons, including the HIMARS (High Mobility Artillery Rocket System).

According to the preliminary conclusions of explosive forensic examinations of the metal fragments from the places of artillery shelling of civilian infrastructure in Donetsk, some of the fragments are the fragments of munition manufacured by the American artillery mounts.

As many facts confirmed, Ukrainian nationalists killed civilians only on the basis of unreasonable assumptions about their loyalty to the Russian authorities. Often the victims were random passers-by who moved along the street close to the positions of the Military Formations of Ukraine.

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia was presented with a report on the work done to establish the damage caused by the criminal actions of Ukrainian nationalists. To date, the inspection of Mariupol has been finalized. More than 45 thousand objects of civil infrastructure and residential units were inspected. Almost 3,000 comprehensive construction and technical appraisals have been appointed, more than 1,500 expert reviews on 1,660 objects have been finalized.

In addition, an inspection of residential facilities and civil infrastructure facilities in Rubezhnoye was finilized. More than five thousand objects were inspected, including multi-apartment residential buildings and the residential neighbourhood, gas, water and electricity supply facilities, bus stations, railway stations and other socially significant objects. Inspection of objects in the Severodonetsk city is at the final stage.

The effective interaction of military investigators, forensic-experts and criminologists during inspections of crime scenes was noted. New action plans have been developed for such large-scale and time-consuming investigations, and new software was used to document the work that had been done. The Chairman of the Investigative Committee of Russia instructed to generalize this methods in order to its further application in the investigation of man-made disasters, mass fires, floods. The mentioned above experience and methods are proposed to be used in the subsequent preparation of specialized training manuals.

The Chairman of the Investigative Committee was informed about the admission of young residents of Donbas and children of the Russian military to Departmental Educational Institutions. Some of them expressed a desire to continue their education in the cadet corps of the Russian Investigative Committee.

During the meeting, issues of further provision of humanitarian assistance to the residents of Donbas and military personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation has been discussed.

In the final part of the meeting, Mr. A.I. Bastrykin awarded the officers of various divisions of the Russian Investigative Committee with departmental medals, noting their high professionalism, valor and courage in carrying out their duties.