A highly decorated colonel personally honoured by Vladimir Putin was today blamed for ordering the "execution" of three "unarmed and surrendering Ukrainian prisoners of war".
The highly distressing case has been reported to the United Nations by Kyiv’s human rights commissioner Dmytro Lyubinets. Graphic footage is alleged to show Russian servicemen in Krynky shooting dead unarmed, immobile soldiers likely with an assault rifle. Ukraine has launched a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder.
Now Ukrainian investigative outlet evocation.info has named Hero of Russia Lt-Col Sergei Ishtuganov, 37, as having given the order for the alleged war crime. He once told Putin he was fighting against “Nazi scum” in Ukraine. The 328th Airborne Regiment of the Russian Armed Forces “wiped Krynki off the face of the Earth and were involved in several war crimes”, stated the outlet. “The crime was committed by servicemen of the 328th regiment of the 104th division on the orders of the Hero of Russia Sergei Ishtuganov. This was done to intimidate the fighters of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.”
He was awarded the Hero of Russia Gold Star (MK/east2west news)The wounded PoWs were “finished off with automatic weapons…the filming was specially carried out in close-up.” Lubinets - who did not name Ishtuganov - said: "This must become an evidence base for the tribunal against criminals… The killing of prisoners of war is a flagrant violation of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War and a grave international crime.
Such cases, unfortunately, are not isolated and are a systematic practice of an insidious enemy,… The world community must send a clear signal to Russia that the traces of war crimes cannot be hidden.” The Ukrainian Prosecutor General’s Office said: "Once again the representatives of the aggressor state have flagrantly ignored the provisions of the Geneva Convention on the Treatment of Prisoners of War, which indicates that such actions are supported by the top-level command of the Russian armed forces.”
Putin accused of surrounding himself with same 'actors' at series of events
The death squad finished off the Ukrainian soldiers with automatic weapons (Social media/east2west news)On 8 December 2022, Ishtuganov was decorated by Putin with Russia’s highest honour. At his Kremlin awards ceremony, the colonel addressed Putin saying: “Comrade Supreme Commander-in-Chief [Putin], it is a great honour for me to be in the main hall of our country and to be awarded the highest award of our Motherland, the Gold Star Medal.
“This is the merit of all my subordinate paratroopers, with whom we are fighting against the Nazi scum. Eighty years ago our grandfathers and great-grandfathers also defended the independence of our native country, waging a merciless struggle for the whole Russian world.” He thanked Putin for putting his trust in him. He vowed: “The enemy will be defeated, the victory will be ours.I have the honour.”
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
