WILL WITNESS: Igor Salikov. It is unknown when and where this photo was taken. Photo: myrotvorets.center
He claims to have been a Russian colonel and later a Wagner soldier. Now Igor Salikov (60) will testify about war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
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- Igor Salikov (60), former Russian colonel and officer in the Wagner group, will testify about war crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.
- He is in the Netherlands, where the International Criminal Court is located.
- According to Salikov, the orders came directly from the Ministry of Defense and sometimes from the office of President Vladimir Putin.
- He left Russia last year after refusing to carry out orders.
- Salikov also claims that he knows the background to the downing of passenger plane MH17 in July 2014.
- He accuses Russian forces of conducting false flag operations and abducting Ukrainian children in eastern Ukraine.
Sea view
He arrived in the Netherlands, where the International Criminal Court is located, on Monday.
Vladimir Osetshkin in the human rights organization gulagu.net confirms to VG that Salikov is in the Netherlands.
– He pleads guilty to having participated in the war against Ukraine. And he does not run away from responsibility for his actions and deeds. On the contrary, he is waiting for questioning and is ready for it.
In an interview with the Dutch TV channel NPO 1 says Salikov that he has left after 25 years:
– I witnessed atrocities against civilians, says the Russian.
No Russians have so far testified at the court about the war in Ukraine. Igor Salikov has also fought in Syria and several African countries for the Wagner group.
– I witnessed executions of civilians, torture of prisoners and abduction of children, says Salikov according to NPO 1.
This photo will show Igor Salikov in the Netherlands on Monday. Photo: gulagu-net
– I saw how people from the special services took a large number of children without parents across the Belarusian border. There were whole columns of FSB agents in private cars and small minibuses.
When asked where the orders came from, he is clear that he knows.
– The orders came directly from the Ministry of Defense and sometimes even from the office of President Vladimir Putin.
Igor Salikov has – according to himself – been involved in the war in Ukraine ever since the conquest of Crimea in 2014.
– I supported the so-called separatists there and witnessed a well-thought-out propaganda campaign, he says.
DEFENDERS: Igor Salikov (th) in a video conversation with Vladimir Osetshkin in the human rights organization gulagu.net. Photo: gulagu-net
According to Salikov, the so-called referendum in Donetsk was rigged. It was on 11 May 2014 that people reportedly voted yes to the creation of the Donetsk People’s Republic, which was later annexed by Russia.
The Russian left Russia last summer and settled in Cyprus with his family. But they are said to have been persecuted, and on Monday this week Salikov chose to go from South Africa to the Netherlands, to testify there.
He also claims to know the background to the downing of passenger plane MH17 over Ukraine in July 2014. 298 people were killed when the Malaysia Airlines plane was shot down over Russian-controlled territory. In November 2022, three Russians and one Ukrainian were sentenced to life imprisonment – in absentia in absentia In absentia means in the absence of. In law, in absentia means without the person concerned being present. – in Dutch law.
– The first invasion of Ukraine took place under the guise of protecting a referendum in Donbas, writes Salikov in a letter to the International Criminal Court.
– We have unknowingly become participants in a coup d’état in Ukraine, carried out by Russia.
TOP: President Vladimir Putin and Defense Minister Sergej Shurko photographed in Moscow on Tuesday. A defector who has seen atrocities in Ukraine claims that the orders came from the Ministry of Defense and sometimes from the Kremlin. Photo: MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/SPUTNIK/KREMLIN / POOL / EPA / NTB
According to the former officer, bribery, blackmail and vote fraud were used to ensure “correct” results in the election.
He claims that the Russian soldiers were convinced through lies to invade Ukraine in 2014.
– We thought that there was a nationalist revival in Ukraine with a fascist angle. The graves of our grandfathers would be painted with swastikas, Russian would be removed as a language and even Russians murdered.
– After two years I realized that none of this was true.
This is supposed to be the letter that Igor Salikov has sent to the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands. Photo: Facsimile from Telegram
Igor Salikov also claims that the Russians carried out so-called “false flag operations” “false flag operations” A false flag operation is a covert operation created to deceive; deceive or create the impression that a particular person, group or nation is responsible for an event or activity, in order to hide the actual source of responsibility. in Donetsk, where “civilians were threatened and murdered”. Everything was done to accuse the Ukrainian army of violence against the Russian-speakers in Eastern Ukraine. He specifically mentions landmines that were laid in areas where civilians lived, and which caused many deaths, including children.
Salikov does not know why Ukrainian children were kidnapped. The International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against Putin and Russian Children’s Ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova for abducting children. This is currently the only concrete international accusation against Putin and his regime.
The defector claims that last year he refused to execute a number of civilians, and was to be tried by court-martial – but managed to escape before that happened.
It is not known how the International Criminal Court will react to the inquiry from Igor Salikov. To Reuters, they say they have no comment yet.
Published:
Published: 20.12.23 at 03:10
2023-12-20 02:10:49
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