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Russia puts Ukraine interior minister, governor on international wanted list

Russia’s Investigative Committee accused them in use of banned methods of warfare, aggravated murder, hindrance to professional activity of journalists and abductions of people in eastern Ukraine
Arsen Avakov (in the center) ITAR-TASS/ЕРА/SERGEI CHIRIKOV
Arsen Avakov (in the center)
© ITAR-TASS/ЕРА/SERGEI CHIRIKOV

MOSCOW, June 21. /ITAR-TASS/. Russia’s Investigative Committee has put on an international wanted list Ukrainian parliament-appointed Interior Minister Arsen Avakov and businessman, Dnepropetrovsk Region governor Igor Kolomoisky, Russian Investigative Committee spokesman Vladimir Markin said Saturday.

Markin told Itar-Tass that "in the framework of a criminal case on the use of banned means and methods of warfare, aggravated murder, hindrance to the professional activity of journalists and abductions of people in eastern Ukraine, investigators issued a resolution on putting Arsen Avakov and Igor Kolomoisky on a wanted list."

“The resolution was sent to the Main Criminal Investigation Department of the Russian Interior Ministry. Avakov and Kolomoisky were put on an international wanted list, effective on the territory of all Interpol member states,” he said.

In line with the current procedure, the Interior Ministry formalizes the procedure to put persons on a wanted list by sending materials via the Interpol’s National Central Bureau (NCB) of the Russian Interior Ministry to the Interpol Lyon HQ database or in line with the Minsk extradition convention signed by members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, a loose association of former Soviet republics).

Markin also said that over 1,000 residents of Ukraine’s embattled eastern regions have filed applications to Russian investigators for the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights.

The Investigative Committee spokesman told Itar-Tass that in the framework of the criminal case, “over 40 investigators keep working with people coming from Ukraine who suffered from crimes and who have currently arrived in the southern Russian Rostov Region, the Republic of Crimea, as well as the Belgorod, Voronezh, Bryansk, Kursk and some other regions.”

“As of now, a total of 2,400 eyewitnesses have been questioned, 1,470 people have been recognized injured persons, including 208 underage persons. More than 1,000 people have submitted to Russian investigators applications for the International Criminal Court and the European Court of Human Rights,” Markin said.

He did not rule out that the wanted list in the case may soon include new persons.

“Investigators are taking measures to establish all persons from among commanders and servicemen of Ukraine’s armed forces, ‘the National Guard of Ukraine’ and Right Sector [far-right ultranationalist movement] militants involved in conducting a punitive operation against the civilian population in Ukraine’s Southeast, which has killed many civilians,” Markin said.

“The investigation of the criminal case continues,” he said.

A Kiev-led punitive operation against federalization supporters in Ukraine’s southeastern regions that involves armored vehicles, heavy artillery and attack aviation has already killed hundreds of people, including civilians, left some buildings destroyed and damaged and forced tens of thousands to cross the border from Ukraine to Russia.

Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko announced a ceasefire in Ukraine’s embattled Southeast from 22:00 local time (23:00 Moscow Time, or 19:00 GMT) on Friday, June 20, until 10:00 local time on June 27. He also presented a peace plan to settle the situation in the East during his first working trip to the Donetsk Region.

But Alexander Borodai, the prime minister of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic (DPR), said Saturday that the ceasefire does not work.

The Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which border on Russia, held referendums on May 11, in which most voters supported independence from Ukraine. South Ossetia recognized the independence of the self-proclaimed Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) on June 18. No other countries have followed suit yet.