Four Russian servicemen have been charged by the U.S. Department of Justice with war crimes for allegedly kidnapping and abusing U.S. citizens during the invasion of Ukraine, the first time such charges have been made by the U.S. since Congress passed the U.S. War Crimes Act. According to the indictment in federal court in Virginia, the four Russian servicemen are Suren Seranovich Mkirchiyan, Dmitry Budnik, Valery and Nazar. Of these, the first two were commanders of the Russian army or military units of the "Donetsk Republic", and the latter two were of lower rank and provided only names and not full names.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, in April last year, the four Russian servicemen abducted the home of a U.S. citizen in the village of Mylove in the Kherson region, and the U.S. citizen and his wife were imprisoned and tortured for up to 10 days, including repeated interrogations, beatings, threats, and mock executions. In this incident, Russian soldiers had pointed their guns at the head of the American citizen and removed them at the last minute. Katrina Berger, executive deputy director of the US Homeland Security Investigations, said that "the four men, acting on behalf of the Russian armed forces and the so-called Donetsk People's Republic, violated the human rights of US citizens". Alejandro Mayorkas, U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security, said that "*the evidence gathered illustrates the brutality, guilt and depravity of the Russian invasion".
The four Russian servicemen are charged with three war crimes: unlawful imprisonment, torture and inhuman treatment, and conspiracy to commit war crimes. According to U.S. law, the 4 Russian servicemen** face life in prison if convicted. Merrick Garland, U.S. attorney general, said more prosecutions are expected under the War Crimes Act, which gives the Justice Department jurisdiction over war crimes committed by U.S. citizens abroad. Although there is no extradition treaty between the United States and Russia, the U.S. Department of Justice has repeatedly initiated criminal proceedings against Russian nationals, mainly for cybercrimes, including intervening In March 2016, the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Russia** Putin on war crimes charges, accusing Putin of being responsible for the abduction of children from Ukraine.
Neither the United States nor Russia is a member of the ICC, but the U.S. Department of Justice has been cooperating with the ICC and supporting Ukrainian prosecutors in investigations of war crimes. Interestingly, according to The Independent, in addition to facing war crimes charges for kidnapping Ukrainian children, Russia's Putin may also face new war crimes charges. An investigation by international law firm GlobalrightsCompliance (GRC) found evidence that the famine in Ukraine was planned in advance by Russia**. It is reported that in December 2021, Russia** purchased three giant grain transport ships up to 170 meters long, and in the first week after the outbreak of the war, Russia** exported grain from the occupied territory of Ukraine, with an export volume of up to 12,000 tons per day.
This discovery further supports the theory of the existence of this complete program. If it can be proven that Putin participated in this "planned" famine in Ukraine, he will again be on the international wanted list. In order to satisfy the comparison mentality of some netizens, in addition to discussing the judicial problems faced by Russian soldiers and Putin, it is also necessary to mention similar problems faced by Ukraine. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson once said that an American who criticized Zelensky was arrested and tortured by Ukraine, and the United States agreed, because the United States wants to use the same standards. Tucker Carlson quoted the American's father as asking: Is Ukraine really what we call a democracy?
Elon Musk also expressed concern, noting that the United States has provided $100 billion in aid to Ukraine, while American citizens are in prison. In his opinion, if he is treated like this just because he criticizes Zelensky, the problem is very serious. However, given Tucker Carlson's poor reputation, we should also listen to others. According to a former Ukrainian journalist in the United States, the American named Gonzalo Lira, who has dual citizenship of the United States and Chile, has been living in Ukraine, according to a former Ukrainian journalist in the United States.
He initially offered vulgar "dating advice" to men as a "red pill coach", but in the first week after the outbreak of the war, he suddenly transformed into a Kremlin propagandist, recording ** in Kyiv, posting a lot of content about "Ukrainians are Nazis" and "Zelensky is **", and denying the war crimes committed by the Russian army in Bucha. In April 2022, the Ukrainian security services arrested Gonzalo Lira for the first time, causing a lot of hype from Russian propaganda services. Even Russian *** spokeswoman Zakharova made a special statement. Although a Ukrainian court granted Gonzalo Lira bail, he tried to waive bail and absconded to Hungary.
The detention of the former Ukrainian journalist by the Ukrainian judiciary was justified and lawful for becoming a propaganda representative of Russia during the war and violating the requirements of the courts. Just because Gonzalo Lilla holds a U.S. passport doesn't mean he's an American hero in defense of free speech. It should be noted that investigations by the United Nations and other international agencies have revealed that both Russia and Ukraine were suspected of committing war crimes before the war broke out in the eastern Ukraine region. However, most of the war crimes were committed by the Donbas militias backed by Russia**. And the vast majority of the war crimes of the Ukrainian army that appeared on the Internet were false materials produced by Russian propagandists. In fact, on the very first day of the outbreak of a full-scale war, there were ** shows that Russian propagandists were producing programs on the territory of Ukraine.