All news

Nationalists from Azovstal to stand trial by end of summer — DPR leader

All the necessary documents for this are being worked on, Denis Pushilin specified

MOSCOW, June 9. /TASS/. The Ukrainian nationalists who surrendered at the Azovstal metal plant will be put on trial by the end of this summer, the leader of the Donetsk People’s Republic, Denis Pushilin, has said.

"The neo-Nazis - Ukrainian citizens, the Azov battalion - will be put on trial. We will do that by the end of this summer. There is no point postponing it. Society’s demand for this is great," Pushilin said on Russia’s TV Channel One on Thursday.

He stressed that all the necessary documents for this were being worked on and the agencies concerned were actively involved in preparations for the first intermediate stage of the trial.

Earlier, Pushilin stated that more than 5,000 Ukrainian prisoners of war were being held in the DPR, including 2,439 soldiers who had left Azovstal. He stressed that the Ukrainian nationalists would be put on trial. He did not rule out that a future tribunal would be international. At the moment, the necessary documents are being prepared. The DPR is determined to bring the Ukrainian war criminals to justice before autumn.

Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov said on May 20 that the Russian army had completely liberated the territory of the Azovstal plant, where the remnants of the Ukrainian force in Mariupol, including nationalists from the Azov Battalion, were holed up.