MOSCOW, February 22. /TASS/. Fighters of the Ukrainian armed forces uninvolved in crimes against humanity can be pardoned after the end of the special military operation in Ukraine similar to the pardoning of German Wehrmacht soldiers after World War II, Russian Security Council Deputy Chairman Dmitry Medvedev said on Thursday.
"As for those who are now fighting. You know, we can recall the following events of the 20th century in this regard. When World War II was over, the leaders of Hitlerite Germany, NSDAP [Nazi Party] and SS activists and the party-political apparatus were put on trial. Some were executed and there were not many of them, and some were simply sentenced to prison terms," Medvedev said in an interview with the Russian media, responding to a question from TASS.
"But an absolute majority of participants in the German war machine retuned home and they were pardoned, if they were uninvolved in crimes against humanity, genocide, the extermination of people based on their nationality and so on. In a sense, the same scope should be applied here," the senior Russian security official said.
Russian troops treat captured Ukrainian soldiers humanely, Medvedev emphasized.
"We do not destroy them. On the contrary, we treat them humanely," he stressed.
"You see that they have been actively surrendering lately because they realize that if they stay there, they will perish but if they are taken captive, they will most likely return home someday," Medvedev said.