Russia announced that it has placed more than 700 foreign mercenaries, who have fought or are fighting alongside Ukrainian forces, on its wanted list, with absentee arrest warrants issued against them.
The statement highlighted a field meeting in Donetsk chaired by Alexander Bastrykin, the head of the Russian Investigative Committee.
The committee’s statement detailed that decisions were made to pursue citizens from the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, and Romania as suspects under part 3 of Article 359 of the Russian Criminal Code, which pertains to mercenary activities.
At this stage, a total of 700 foreigners have been added to the wanted list, with some already having absentee arrest warrants issued against them.
Bastrykin was presented with a report on criminal cases in this category, including three cases against Georgian nationals Lasha Rukhaia, Levon Hairabedian, and Erikli Amiranasvili, who fought for money alongside the Ukrainian Armed Forces as part of the Georgian National Legion.
Russian investigative authorities have also brought charges against Igor Voronchenko, the former commander of the Ukrainian Navy from July 2016 to June 2020, Alexander Nesterenko, who led the “Vostok” operational command of the forces from July to December 2019, and Igor Dovgan, who headed the “Western” operational command from March 2015 to March 2017.
These officers are accused by Russian authorities of orchestrating operations of persecution and repression conducted by Ukrainian forces in Donbas.
As a result of their alleged criminal actions during these periods, numerous attacks were carried out on populated areas in the Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, resulting in the death or injury of 334 individuals, including 12 children.
The commander of the Ukrainian Navy has unveiled that Russia employed an arsenal of more than 880 drones and 170 missiles to target the infrastructure of Odesa port.
Emphasizing the severity of the situation, the navy commander stated that Kyiv is preparing to launch counteroffensive actions against the ongoing Russian attack within the current year.
