High-ranking officials of the Russian Army are trying to shift responsibility for high-profile, obvious war crimes from themselves to middle and lower-level commanders. They are probably still afraid of international consequences for what they did in Ukraine.
This is stated in summary Institute for the Study of War (ISW). They noted that among those who want to disclaim responsibility is Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu.
On the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, 2024, the Ministry of Defense of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation published footage of the report of the commander of the Central Group of Forces, Colonel General Andrei Mordvichev.
It was this war criminal who led the “meat” assaults of the invaders in the Avdeevsky direction, in particular the Russian massive shelling by KAB. Reporting to Shoigu, he stated that Russian troops allegedly “captured about 200 Ukrainian prisoners of war” near Avdeevka.
In response, Shoigu attempted to deflect responsibility and suddenly pointed out the need for the Russian military to “treat prisoners of war humanely,” as he said Russian forces had “always done.” The instruction was directly addressed to Mordvichev and other Russian officers.
“Shoigu, like Russian President Vladimir Putin, is likely concerned about the international consequences of his subordinates’ actions regarding obvious Russian war crimes and may have openly addressed the issue of Ukrainian prisoners of war, given the recent international attention to Russian atrocities in Ukraine,” analysts say ISW.
As OBOZ.UA reported, the Russian occupiers shot six Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers at the Zenit position in captured Avdiivka. The Ukrainian defenders were wounded and could not resist the invaders, but they brutally killed them.
The Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine has launched an investigation into another war crime by the Russians. Already during it, law enforcement officers discovered a video with a fragment of the killing of two more Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters by the enemy – in the Bakhmut direction.
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2024-02-25 03:29:57
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