Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova’s comment on Ukraine’s case in the International Criminal Court
An announcement made on April 25 to the effect that the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor’s Office will join the Joint Investigation Group (JIG) comprised of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine and created under the auspices of Eurojust has come to our attention.
Everyone is aware of how these kinds of entities operate. It is probably not accidental that the people behind this idea decided to recreate the name of the group that is “investigating” the MH-17 plane crash. It is safe to assume that the nature of the work of their brainchild will be similarly biased and one-sided. Keeping in mind that JIG members are the most rabid advocates of using international justice for unbridled and evidence-defying smear campaigns against our country, we cannot expect anything different.
The ICC Prosecutor’s Office’s move goes to show that it is not even trying to keep at least the appearance of impartiality or objectivity and has instead enthusiastically joined a process in which the perpetrators have been clearly designated in advance. If anyone doubts that the ICC is a body that is fulfilling political orders and has nothing to do with independent justice, this new “creative” format has made it perfectly clear.
We would like to ask the ICC Prosecutor’s Office and the countries that are now so concerned about justice in Ukraine why, for eight years, they ignored the suffering of the residents of Donbass who were victims of the crimes perpetrated by the Kiev regime?
Starting in April 2014, the Ukrainian forces never stopped their shelling of Donbass’ towns and villages using prohibited indiscriminate lethal weapons designed to most effectively destroy people and infrastructure. Many towns, primarily the ones near the contact line, were left without water, gas or electricity. Mobile communications systems were turned off, and food and medical supply routes were cut off as well.
Acting with particular cynicism, the Ukrainian war machine was targeting hospitals, morgues and schools that were used as bomb shelters. Cemeteries were also fired at, which is the reason for the spontaneous mass graves of civilians who fell victim to the military-political leadership of Ukraine and their Western curators. According to Russia’s Investigative Committee, 2,600 civilians who were not participating in the hostilities died, and over 5,000 civilians were injured.
Kiev imposed inhumane water, economic and transport blockades on Donbass, which put the region on the verge of a humanitarian disaster.
The Russian Investigative Committee initiated 776 cases on the facts of crimes committed by the Ukrainian forces against the civilians in Donbass and Russian service personnel during the special military operation. Work to locate evidence and identify the perpetrators continues.
According to the human rights NGOs in the DPR and LPR, they sent a massive amount of information – more than 3,000 pieces of material on crimes committed against the residents of Donbass – to the ICC. However, they have not received any clear response from The Hague justice.
Will the ICC Prosecutor’s Office ever take time out of its busy schedule to review these materials?
As a reminder, Russia does not participate in the Rome Statute of the ICC and is not obliged to cooperate with it. Nevertheless, we will continue to closely monitor this body’s activities.
