According to Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s investigative committee, “Moscow charged 92 members of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with crimes against humanity”. If some English-speaking media have treated the information, it is however passed over in silence on the French side.
War crimes, mercenaries and weapons of mass destruction
Alexander Bastrykin told the government news site Rossiiskaya Gazeta that “more than 1,300 criminal investigations had been opened”. Supported by Iran, Syria and Bolivia, traditional allies of Russia, the head of the Russian investigation committee has proposed the creation of an international tribunal to try these war crimes.
NB In theory, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has already been in charge of this mission since 2002, but its authority is not recognized by everyone. Moreover, not all signatory countries of the Rome Statute (founder of the ICC) have ratified it – this is the case of Russia and the United States, among others.
In addition to the 92 people already indicted by Russia, “nearly 96 people, including 51 commanders of the armed forces, are wanted”, Mr. Bastrykin said. The Russian investigator claimed that Ukrainians were involved in “crimes against the peace and security of mankind”, as the BBC reports. She indicated that she “was unable to verify the claims made in the interview and [que] Kyiv did not comment”.
According to the statements of the Russian investigator, investigations are underway, in particular vis-à-vis the employees of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, whom he accused (without apparent evidence) of developing weapons of destruction massive. They would be presumed mercenaries from “from UK, USA, Canada, Netherlands and Georgia”.
Although the accusations have not yet been verified, this information has served as material for some English-language media such as the BBC, Reuters, or the Daily Express… On the French side, however, radio silence.
One-way processing of information?
For its part, Ukraine has stated that it is examining “over 21,000 war crimes and crimes of aggression allegedly committed by Russian forces since the invasion began in February”, as Attorney General Iryna Venediktova confirmed to the BBC. Since the start of the conflict, the first war crimes trial took place in Ukraine during the month of May, while a court imprisoned a Russian tank commander for life, accused of killing a civilian.
On the other hand, Russia has regularly accused Ukraine of bombing its own infrastructure and killing its own civilians. Unsurprisingly, both sides denied the charges.
What differs, however, is the processing of information. If the French media reported Russian war crimes well, they did not do so for Ukraine. Only English-speaking, Belgian or Swiss media spoke about it.
See also: Russia-Ukraine: the young pregnant woman from Mariupol denies the official Western account
The war has often been the subject of media excesses, on both sides. Although the Russian-Ukrainian conflict has been raging since 2014, some still seem to be wondering about the differentiated processing of informationthat’s to say facts that are not always honestly and faithfully reported in the media. For Jean Neige, an international observer who has already been to Ukraine, “the official narrative and the facts reported by live witnesses” sometimes underlines a “significant, even significant difference” compared to media reality. Clearly, he reminds us that we must keep a critical mind in all circumstances.
See also: Ukraine: an international observer denounces “media manipulation for political purposes”