The Russian military has “extensively violated” international human rights laws in Ukraine, according to a new report from international investigators.
Forty-five countries that are members of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe voted in early June to invoke the Moscow Mechanism, which results in the sending of experts to assist participating states in the resolution of a particular question or problem. Those investigators published their findings Thursday, which is the second one the OSCE has conducted into Russia’s military since the war started.
Many of the alleged war crimes break down into either the attacks on civilian infrastructure or the treatment of civilians.
Within the last week or so, more than 20 people were killed in a strike in Vinnytsia. At least 15 people died days earlier when Russian troops hit an apartment complex in the town of Chasiv Yar, while around the same time, three strikes hit a school, a residential building, and an area near a warehouse in Kharkiv.
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“The magnitude and frequency of the indiscriminate attacks carried out against civilians and civilian objects, including in sites where no military facility was identified, is credible evidence that hostilities were conducted by Russian armed forces with disregard to their fundamental obligation to comply with the basic principles of distinction, proportionality and precaution that constitute the fundamental basis of IHL,” the report read.
The Russian military’s allegedly heinous treatment of civilians took shape in many different ways.
“Some of the most serious violations include targeted killing of civilians, including journalists, human rights defenders, or local mayors; unlawful detentions, abductions and enforced disappearances of such persons; large-scale deportations of Ukrainian civilians to Russia; various forms of mistreatment, including torture, inflicted on detained civilians and prisoners of war; the failure to respect fair trial guarantees; and the imposition of the death penalty. Most, albeit not all, violations have been committed in the territories under the effective control of the Russian Federation, including the territories of the so-called Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, and are largely attributable to the Russian Federation,” the report found.
Investigators traveled to some of the villages where the most serious allegations surfaced.
A series of torture chambers were found in a summer camp in Bucha, the location of mass graves where civilians were found executed. Investigators concluded that Russians likely waterboarded prisoners as they were tied to bedsprings leaned up against the wall. Five dead men dressed in civilian clothing were found, and their bodies were “covered with burns, bruises, and lacerations.” In the nearby village of Zabuchchya, 18 bodies of men, women, and children were discovered mutilated in a basement. Some of the bodies were missing ears while others had their teeth pulled out.
Russian soldiers have also resorted to sexual violence, mostly against women, and investigators said there were “at least hundreds of them in the conflict.” The report also said they had seen indications that gang rape was carried out in front of family members, including children.
The investigators also referenced two “new alarming phenomena,” which include Russia’s “filtration camps” and the country’s decision to hand detained Ukrainians over to the separatist regions in Ukraine’s east to avoid its “international obligations.”
Earlier this week, Secretary of State Antony Blinken accused Russia of having detained or deported between 900,000 and 1.6 million Ukrainians through their “filtration camps” and called it a war crime.
“Eyewitnesses and survivors of ‘filtration’ operations, detentions, and forced deportations report frequent threats, harassment, and incidents of torture by Russian security forces,” the secretary said. “During this process, Russian authorities also reportedly capture and store biometric and personal data, subject civilians to invasive searches and interrogations and coerce Ukrainian citizens into signing agreements to stay in Russia, hindering their ability to freely return home.”
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U.S. Ambassador to the OSCE Michael Carpenter spoke to reporters Friday about the report, and he said there is a presumption that Russian leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, are aware of the alleged crimes being committed.
“I think it’s fair to say that one can assume that that much of the Russian leadership should be aware of what is happening. I obviously can’t pronounce on what facts are briefed to President Putin and what facts he is unaware of,” the ambassador said. “I will, however, say that it is very important that everyone at all levels of the chain of command be held accountable.”
He pointed to the more than $7 billion in military aid the United States has provided to Ukraine since Russia invaded on Feb. 24 when asked about what the U.S. was doing to stop the alleged war crimes.
