Russia’s Investigative Committee announced Tuesday that it will indict four senior Ukrainian officers it says are responsible for drone attacks on Russian soil with “terrorism” charges, reports The Moscow Times.
Vice Admiral Oleksii Neijapa, commander of the Ukrainian NavyPhoto: Operation 2021 / Alamy / Alamy / Profimedia
The 4 are General Kirilo Budanov, head of the military intelligence service in Kiev, General Mikola Olesciuk, commander of the Air Force of Ukraine, Vice Admiral Oleksii Neijapa, commander of the Ukrainian Naval Forces, and Colonel Serhii Burdeniuk, commander of the 383rd Unmanned Aircraft Brigade.
“It was also established that the defendants involved their subordinate servicemen in the commission of the crimes,” the Moscow Investigative Committee said in a press release.
This institution, which was originally established by the Moscow government as an anti-corruption department, has over the years come to have much broader prerogatives than prosecutors’ offices in other European countries, being responsible for investigating a wide range of crimes against the Russian state.
The committee also said it had gathered “sufficient evidence” of the involvement of the 4 Ukrainian commanders in more than 100 drone strikes on Moscow, the Crimean peninsula and regions on the Russian-Ukrainian border: Belgorod, Briansk, Kursk and others. Russia claims that at least 100 civilians died in these attacks.
The Russian authorities also announced that they will prosecute the 4 Ukrainian commanders.
General Budanov, wanted by Russia for the attacks against the Kerch Bridge
Russia has issued an arrest warrant for General Kirilo Budanov since April of this year, accusing him of organizing “terrorist attacks” inside Russia.
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) had previously said that Budanov organized the attack that last October damaged the Kerch Bridge linking Russia with Crimea, which Moscow illegally annexed in 2014.
Russia has also accused Ukrainian intelligence agents under Budanov of being responsible for the bombings that killed Daria Dughina, the daughter of Russian ultranationalist ideologue Aleksandr Dughin, and military blogger Vladlen Tatarski.
The indictment of Vice-Admiral Oleksii Neijapa by Russia’s Investigative Committee seems a somewhat odd move, given that Ukraine no longer has a de facto naval force with which to carry out airstrikes after the bulk of its navy was captured during the occupation of Crimea 8 years ago.
Russian prosecutors may hold Neijapa responsible for the maritime drone attacks on Sevastopol and other Russian Black Sea ports.
Follow the latest developments from the 587th day of the war in Ukraine LIVETEXT on HOTNEWS.RO.
