Russia accuses 92 Ukrainian soldiers of war crimes in Donbass

The warlike rhetoric of the conflict in Ukraine continues to present parallel and totally opposite realities.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
25 July 2022 Monday 17:48
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Russia accuses 92 Ukrainian soldiers of war crimes in Donbass

The warlike rhetoric of the conflict in Ukraine continues to present parallel and totally opposite realities. Russia has charged 92 senior Ukrainian military officers with crimes against humanity and the head of the Investigation Committee has proposed creating an international court to try them, reminiscent of investigations on the other side to prove that Russian troops committed war crimes in cities like Bucha. The Kremlin assured on Monday that Saturday's attack on the port of Odesa does not jeopardize the grain agreement reached just a day earlier, since, contrary to the accusations of Ukraine and Western countries, they only hit military installations.

The head of the Russian Instruction Committee, Alexander Bastrikin, announced yesterday that Moscow has accused 92 members of the Ukrainian armed forces of crimes against humanity, and that another 1,300 investigations have been launched for crimes against the civilian population of Donbass.

"Preliminary investigations have established that more than 220 people, including members of the Ukrainian armed forces, have participated in crimes against the peace and security of humanity, crimes that do not prescribe," Bastrikin said. Indictments have been filed against 92 military commanders and their subordinates. Another 96 people, 51 of them commanders of Ukrainian army units, have been declared wanted.

Bastrikin, whose committee in Russia is in charge of investigating major crimes, proposed in an interview in the daily Rossískaya Gazeta to create an international court. As the West supports Ukraine it will not be possible to bring the accused to a UN-organized tribunal, the official said. The appropriate thing would be to work on this objective with ex-Soviet countries close to Russia from the Community of Independent States (CIS) or the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO), also with the BRICS (Brazil, India, China and South Africa, in addition to Russia ), as well as neutral countries regarding the conflict in Ukraine, "in particular, Syria, Iran and Bolivia," he pointed out.

The reality of last Saturday's attack on the port of Odessa is different depending on who tells it. According to Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov, "the target was military installations." The attacks “are only related to the military infrastructure, in no way with the infrastructure that is used to fulfill the agreements and get the grain. Therefore, it should not affect the start of the shipping process, ”he assured yesterday.

The Russian Defense Ministry said the attack destroyed a US Harpoon missile store and a Ukrainian warship that were docked. Also, a plant to repair and modernize ships of the Ukrainian navy would have been out of service.

Russia and Ukraine signed separately on Friday, July 22 in Istanbul two agreements with Turkey, and with the testimony of the UN, to create "safe corridors" in the Black Sea that allow the export of grain from Odessa and two other Ukrainian ports, Yuzhne and Chornomorsk.

One of the global effects of this conflict has been a shortage in the world grain market, since Ukraine and Russia are two of the main grain exporters. More than 20 million tons have been stranded in silos in Ukraine. The UN has warned that this could cause a world food crisis and degenerate into famines in the most vulnerable countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Again the parallel and opposite realities. Kyiv and its allies have blamed Russia for blocking exports these months with its fleet. Moscow points to two culprits: the mining of Ukrainian ports and Western sanctions, which have affected the export of Russian grain and fertilizers.

In addition to the agreement to unblock the Ukrainian ports, another pact was signed in Istanbul to facilitate the exit of these Russian products.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky described the bombing of the port of Odesa as "barbaric" hours after the signing in Istanbul. "No matter what Russia promises, it will always find a way to break it," he said.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the attack "undermines efforts to deliver food to the hungry."