Russia Ukraine War: Ex-Russian soldiers to testify against Russia on war crimes

A legal source Netherlands told Reuters on Tuesday that a former Russian soldier has applied for asylum in the country and plans to testify before the International Criminal Court regarding war crimes he saw Russia commit while he was fighting in Ukraine. The man, identifying himself as 60-year-old Igor Salikov in Dutch media, claimed to have served as an instructor for the Wagner mercenary group in Ukraine and to have been a part of the Russian-backed forces of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic in eastern Ukraine since 2014. His affiliation with the Wagner group and the pro-Russian separatist forces could not be independently verified by Reuters. Ukraine’s top war crimes prosecutor Yurii Belousov told Reuters that Salikov had already been in touch with Ukrainian prosecutors for more than six months and given testimony. “He gave important testimony, some of which has already been confirmed, about the invasion of February 24, 2022. He reported some war crimes, which we are investigating, and some have already been confirmed,” Belousov told Reuters in a text message. Russia has vigorously denied committing atrocities or targeting civilians in Ukraine. Salikov told Dutch television program EenVandaag in an interview broadcast on Monday that he was ready to fully cooperate with the ICC and had personally witnessed “cruelties against civilians”. The ICC would not immediately comment on the reports. The court in the Dutch city of The Hague has an ongoing investigation into alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine. In March, the ICC issued warrants for the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin and children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova over war crimes charges related to the abduction of Ukrainian children. The Kremlin rejected those allegations. Human rights group Gulagu.net in a post on Telegram said Salikov was not received by the ICC after his arrival in the Netherlands on Monday, as its prosecutor and judges were not ready for an interrogation yet. “They did not expect it,” the group said. (with inputs with Reuters)