Moscow: Following the publication of video online and the ensuing accusations of war crimes from both Kiev and Moscow, the Kremlin declared on Monday that it will prosecute anyone guilty for the ‘murder’ of Russian servicemen in Ukraine. The Russian military has claimed that the video that surfaced on social media last week depicted the remains of servicemen who had been slain after turning themselves in to Ukrainian forces. Since the troops were slain during a fake encounter, Ukraine has denied that its forces executed any prisoners of war.
‘Russia will definitely look for those responsible for this atrocity on its own. Find them and punish them ‘, Dmitry Peskov, the Kremlin’s press secretary, said journalists. Russia ‘will do everything within the scope of international processes to bring attention to this crime,’ he continued. More than 10 troops were ‘deliberately and methodically murdered,’ according to the defence ministry’s statement from last week.
Last Monday, the UN declared that it had been made aware of the tapes and was investigating them. According to a report it published earlier last week, both sides have been accused of committing violations. In one video, troops can be seen ostensibly submitting to multiple camouflaged military officials with yellow armbands. The troops who are surrendering lie down on the ground in a backyard full of trash. As shots are heard, the video cuts off abruptly.
The bodies of about a dozen individuals are seen surrounded by what seem to be blood stains in another footage taken from above. Both the Russian defence ministry and AFP have not independently verified the films’ authenticity. The purported murders allegedly took place in Makiivka, a village in eastern Ukraine’s Lugansk area that the Ukrainian army claimed to have retaken last week, according to Russia’s Human Rights Council.
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