2023-09-23 01:58:06
The Russian Investigative Committee (CIR) reported this Friday that it filed criminal charges in absentia for mercenarism, against 25 foreign citizens, including several Argentines, whom it accuses of fighting on the side of Ukraine in the war conflict that began about 19 months ago. .
The accusations
“In the framework of the investigation of the criminal case for mercenarism, the evidence collected in the investigation allowed charges to be filed in absentia against 25 foreigners, including citizens of Australia, Austria, Argentina, Belgium and other countries,” the CIR said in a statement. which did not provide further details on how many citizens of each country were accused, nor their identities. “Tasks are being carried out to search for these people. In total, criminal proceedings are being carried out against more than 200 foreign citizens,” he added.
“Information was also received about the participation of instructors from Canada, Great Britain and the United States in the training of servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, even before the start of the Special Military Operation,” the text explained.
The prosecution body, which depends on the Russian Presidency, stressed that among the alleged crimes committed are the murder of civilians and damage to infrastructure protected by international law. “The criminologists of the central office continue to provide practical assistance to investigators, both in criminal cases related to crimes of the armed formations of Ukraine, and in criminal matters in general,” the entity’s statement said. “As part of the search and identification work for unidentified bodies of dead civilians, as a result of the verification of the genomic information database, the identity of 656 people was established,” he added.
At the start of the war, kyiv invited foreign citizens to join the country’s forces against the Russian invasion through the International Legion for the Territorial Defense of Ukraine. Two weeks later, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, assured that almost 20,000 foreigners enlisted in the first 24 hours of an Internet page being enabled to facilitate the registration process.
Bombing of the Russian fleet
Ukraine bombed a Russian fleet barracks in the Black Sea this Friday and caused a fire in that detachment on the Crimean peninsula, leaving one person missing, the Russian Ministry of Defense reported. “As a result of the attack, the historic building of the General Staff of the Black Sea Fleet was damaged,” the ministry led by Sergei Shoigu said on its Telegram channel, adding that anti-aircraft defenses shot down five missiles, but did not reveal how many hit their target. aim.
According to the Russian Telegram channel “112”, at least six people were injured during this attack, which took place a few days after Kiev managed to damage two Russian warships at the Ordzhonikidze shipyard in Sevastopol. The missile attack on Sevastopol was accompanied by an “unprecedented cyber attack” against the annexed peninsula, which according to the Crimean leader’s advisor, Oleg Kriuchkov, caused disruptions to the local internet service.
An hour later, the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed the attack, which they described as successful. “We promised there would be more,” Ukrainian Air Force Commander Mikola Oleshchuk clarified in a statement, referring to previous statements by Ukrainian commanders about other attacks against Crimea, where Russian military targets are now hit almost daily by Ukrainian forces. “As the occupiers recover in Melitopol and air alarms continue to sound in Sevastopol, I once again thank the Air Force pilots,” he added.
The Crimean peninsula – annexed by Moscow in 2014 – and the city of Sevastopol where the Russian fleet is located, are key to Russia’s operation in Ukraine: they allow the troops deployed in the south of the country to be supplied and are a base for launch missile bombardments from the sea.
Moscow also shoots
One person was killed and 15 others were injured after a Russian attack in the Ukrainian city of Kremenchuk, in the Poltava region, according to its governor, Dimitri Lunin. “The enemy launched missile attacks on Kremenchuk. One of them was shot down by the air defense forces. Unfortunately, there was an impact on civilian infrastructure,” Lunin explained on his Telegram account.
The mayor of Kremenchuk, Vitali Maletski, asked citizens to refrain from publishing photos, videos, or any data about what happened. He also told them to “stay away from the scene” because “you are interfering with emergency services.” Kremenchuk was already the scene at the end of June of some of the deadliest episodes since the invasion of Ukraine began, after an attack killed 21 people in a market. Ukraine at the time accused Russia of terrorism. But a recent investigation by the New York Times claims to have shown that the attack was carried out by Ukraine by mistake.
#Russia #opened #trial #mercenaries #Ukrainian #forces #Among #accused #Moscow #Argentines