Russia has charged 92 members of Ukraine’s military high command with crimes against humanity, according to Alexander Bastrykin, head of Russia’s Investigative Committee.
In total, Moscow has opened more than 1,300 criminal cases against Ukraine’s military and political leadership, Bastrykin said in an interview with government news site Rossiyskaya Gazeta published Monday. He did not name any of the defendants.
CNN has not independently verified the claims made by Bastrykin.
“In the course of the preliminary investigation, more than 220 people have been identified as being involved in crimes against the peace and security of humanity that do not have a statute of limitations, including representatives of the high command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as commanders of military units who fired at civilians,” Bastrykin told Rossiyskaya Gazeta.
“A total of 92 commanders and their subordinates have been charged. 96 people were added to the wanted list, in particular 51 commanders of the Armed Forces of Ukraine,” he said.
The head of the Investigative Committee also suggested the creation of a separate international court for crimes in Ukraine.
“Given the position of the “collective West”, which openly sponsors Ukrainian nationalism and supports the Kyiv regime, the creation of such a court under the auspices of the UN in the perspective current is extremely doubtful,” he said.
“The establishment of the court and its charter could be formalized through an agreement between Russia, the member countries of these organizations, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.”
Some background: Bastrykin’s claims come as Ukraine is investigating more than 20,000 war crimes, according to Ukraine’s current Attorney General Iryna Venediktova.
Venediktova had previously said that Ukraine has identified more than 600 Russian war crimes suspects and has begun prosecuting about 80 of them. Two Russian soldiers have already been convicted under Ukrainian criminal law.
Earlier this month, prosecutors from Ukraine and the International Criminal Court (ICC) met in The Hague to share knowledge about investigating global war crimes and applying it to atrocities committed in Ukraine.
The ICC’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, had called Ukraine a “crime scene” after visiting the Ukrainian towns of Bucha and Borodianka in April, where mass graves and civilians killed after the Russian withdrawal were discovered .