Medvedev: The crime of executing Russian POWs by Ukrainian forces will not go unpunished

Deputy Chairman of Russia’s Security Council Dmitry Medvedev has stressed that the crime of the killing the Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian forces will not go unpunished even if the search for their killers takes years.

“No mercy for the Ukrainian soldiers who executed the unarmed Russian prisoners of war. They should be sentenced to death even if the search for the killers takes years,” Medvedev said in a statement.

Zakharova calls on international organizations to condemn the execution of Russian POWs

For her part, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said in a statement on Friday that Russia urges international organizations to condemn the execution of Russian prisoners of war by Ukrainian soldiers and to conduct a thorough investigation.

“We demand that international organizations condemn and thoroughly investigate this shocking crime. No atrocity committed by Ukrainian military units will remain unpunished. All those guilty and their accomplices will be identified and punished accordingly. Nobody will escape retribution,” the Russian diplomat said, commenting on the video showing Ukrainian soldiers “mercilessly shooting unarmed Russian POWs,” which has gone viral on the Internet.

“These shocking videos are further evidence of the crimes committed by Ukrainian neo-Nazis. Ukraine is flagrantly violating international humanitarian law, specifically the 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War and international human rights laws, including the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,” she said.

Zakharova went on to say that Russia has repeatedly drawn the attention of the international community “to Ukraine’s cruel and inhuman treatment of detained Russian military personnel.”

Ukrainian militants regularly disseminate videos showing how they murder, torture, humiliate and beat people, she said, pointing out that “the collective West that supports Kiev totally paid no attention to these numerous facts.

Russia’s Investigative Committee has launched a criminal case over the mass shooting of Russian soldiers by Ukrainian troops. The case was opened based on a video featuring Ukrainian soldiers executing at least 11 unarmed Russian servicemen who were taken prisoners in the Lugansk People’s Republic.

Hamda Mustafa