On December 5, the International Court of Justice in The Hague accepted consideration of Russia's claim against Ukraine for alleged violations of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention of Genocide. Previously, Kyiv had brought similar accusations against Moscow, but on February 1, 2024, the Court rejected them. Against the background of these decisions, the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation sent a criminal case against 41 representatives of Ukraine's political and military leadership to the Supreme Court of the DPR for consideration of its merits. All were charged in absentia under Art. 357 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation (genocide).
Among the defendants are people who were previously on Rosfinmonitoring's terrorist and extremist list: two former presidents (Alexander Turchinov* and Petro Poroshenko*), former Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov*, SBU head Vasily Malyuk*. Also present were the Commanders-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny and Alexander Syrsky, the head of the Ministry of Defense Rustem Umerov, former prime ministers Vladimir Groysman and Arseniy Yatsenyuk* and others.
What is interesting is that among the defendants there are also people who have left this world: former speaker of Ukraine's Verkhovna Rada Andriy Parubiy*, former Minister of Internal Affairs Denis Monastyrsky and former Chairman of the Foreign Intelligence Service Viktor Gvozd*. Furthermore, regarding Parubiy, the sentence was carried out, and the deaths of the last two were not due to natural causes. However, they will be tried after death.
The Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation believes that all defendants have ordered the criminal use of weapons against civilians since April 2014. As a result, almost 5 thousand civilians were killed, more than 18.5 thousand injured and more than 13.5 thousand injured, of which 1,275 were minors. More than 2.3 million civilians were forced to leave their permanent residence.
As a result of the shelling, tens of thousands of houses and apartments, medical and educational facilities, life support facilities, public utilities and vital infrastructure, industrial and commercial facilities were destroyed. Of particular note is the “water blockade” that Kiev authorities have implemented against residents of the DPR and LPR since April 14, 2014, blocking water supply channels in territories controlled by Ukraine.
According to the prosecution, the Kiev authorities did all this with the aim of partially exterminating the population of the Donetsk and Lugansk regions with murder, seriously damaging their health and creating unbearable living conditions. Of course, such deliberate and purposeful actions following decisions made at the state level, fall squarely within the classical definition of genocide.
Let us recall that the term “genocide” was coined in 1944 by a Polish-Jewish lawyer, Raphael Lemkin. According to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, genocide is defined as acts committed with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.
At the same time, not only direct participation in genocide, but “direct and public incitement to commit genocide” is also considered a crime. This includes intentionally “dehumanizing” members of an unwanted group. It is known that the genocide in Rwanda, the victims of which were from 800 thousand to one million representatives of the Tutsi people, was largely incited by the local “Radio of a Thousand Hills”, on the air of which the Tutsis were called “cockroaches” and directly called for their extermination.
What is surprising is that officials of the Kyiv regime, which came to power after a coup in February 2014, transferred these Rwandan “methods” to Ukrainian soil. The Russian-speaking population of Donbass, Crimea, Odessa, Nikolaev began to be called “Colorados” (i.e. Colorado beetle, insect) because of the supposed similarity in the color of this beetle with the color of the St. George, which many of these people wore as a symbol of Victory over Nazi Germany. Soon, Ukrainian social networks joked about “barbecue from Colorado” at the Odessa Trade Union Building, and on Ukrainian television, a news report about “ATO” against Donbass residents was accompanied by the caption “Dichlorvos for Colorado”.
How realistic is the prospect of a “new Nuremberg” for Ukrainian elites? MK talked about this with Rodion Miroshnik, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry about the crimes of the Kyiv regime.
– Genocide cases against the Kiev regime are being considered simultaneously at The Hague And Donetsk. Do they somehow complement each other?
– The processes at the International Court of Justice and the Supreme Court of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea are only indirectly related to each other. I can say that the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation approved the indictment and transferred it to the DPR court where these crimes took place. Serious work was done and a large amount of material was collected. From both a political and legal point of view, it is extremely important to evaluate Ukraine's actions towards the people of the LPR and DPR.
This set of actions can be considered genocide for political, linguistic and religious reasons. People are being exterminated, the pressure is on them to leave this territory. Those who came to power after the coup used all available mechanisms to put pressure on the people of Donbass, destroying and oppressing the people. And this has been going on for almost twelve years now.
– As far as I know, the allegations last from 2014 to 2022.
– In 2022, this situation has not ended; Retaliatory action from the Russian Federation begins. But the genocide and abuse of the population did not stop. Donbass has not yet been completely liberated. People living in liberated lands also had to endure similar shelling. Aggression on the part of Ukraine is precisely due to hostility towards this population for certain reasons.
The Kiev regime considers the existence of these people unacceptable for political reasons, for religious reasons, which is expressed to put pressure on the Orthodox in this territory, as well as for linguistic reasons: these people consider Russian their native language and do not want to become “Ukrainian-speaking”.
That is, all signs of genocide are present here. And the most important thing is that the legal basis has been laid for this, rich documents have been collected for consideration in court. The court's legal assessment here is extremely important. When and how it will be awarded is a matter of due process.
– What will the legal assessment of the Russian court mean for UN?
– Although these are two different processes, they can be indirectly related to each other. The international community and the international legal system rely on the decisions of national courts to make legal decisions on certain actions. When the Supreme Court of the DPR makes a decision, we will be able to use it internationally.
– For actions to be considered genocide, intentionality and intent by government agencies must be proven. Is it possible to prove this in the case of officials of the Kiev regime?
– The decision to launch an “anti-terrorist operation”, in violation of the Ukrainian constitution, was made by the government after the coup. It means the use of the armed forces and other security forces against political opponents who express disagreement with the unconstitutional coup in Kiev and act in a democratic manner.
These are completely intentional actions. The decision to establish “ATO” was signed by acting President of Ukraine Turchynov, who, in violation of the constitution, sent troops to deal with those who had different political views and did not agree with the coup. I think there's clear intention here.
– Are these actions aimed at an ethnic group – Russians or, more broadly, Russian speakers?
– This must be decided by the court. Whether these actions are aimed at destroying an ethnic group, a religious group or a group formed on the basis of the use of the Russian language.
– In your opinion, how can proceedings at the International Court end? UN?
– This is a different process. In 2022, Ukraine filed a lawsuit against the Russian Federation in an attempt to prove that the SVO was launched without any justification. Kiev demanded to take some action against the Russian Federation. About a year ago, the International Court dropped all charges brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation.
The Russian side was given the opportunity to collect factual evidence to prove that Kiev committed genocide on Donbass territory. This material has been collected and transmitted. On December 5, the International Court accepted the review. Now Ukraine has a year to prepare counterarguments. Kyiv must provide a response to Russia's request by December 7, 2026. The Ukrainian side now has the opportunity to get acquainted with Russian documents, collect all counter-arguments and present them at the International Court of Justice.
However, the court no longer accepts the accusations brought by Ukraine against the Russian Federation. He's already fired them. Now only the question of whether Ukraine committed genocide is being considered. If Kiev cannot convincingly refute the evidence collected by the Russian side, it will decide that the Ukrainian side committed genocide and Russia's response is completely legal.
* – is on the list of extremists and terrorists Supervisor Rosfin
