Bastrykin instructed to investigate the crimes of the Ukrainian military in the Donbass

The Investigative Committee of RUSSIA will investigate the crimes committed by the Ukrainian military and "nationalists" in the Donbass, according to the instructions given by the chairman of the Investigative Committee Alexander Bastrykin, according to the agency's website.

“Among the facts under investigation are: shelling of settlements and their inhabitants, the destruction of schools, hospitals, kindergartens, obstruction of the movement of people along the humanitarian corridors opened by the Russian side,” the Investigative Committee said in a statement.

Russian investigators, together with law enforcement agencies of the Donetsk and Luhansk people's republics, will collect evidence of crimes committed both against civilians and military personnel, the Investigative Committee added.

As indicated in the department, “since the aggravation of the situation in February 2022,” the Investigative Committee has opened more than 80 criminal cases, including under Art. 357 of the Criminal Code (genocide), art. 356 of the Criminal Code (ill-treatment of the civilian population, the use in an armed conflict of means and methods prohibited by an international treaty of the Russian Federation), part 3 of Art. 30, paras. "a, e, g" part 2 of Art. 105 of the Criminal Code (attempted murder) and Art. 206 of the Criminal Code (hostage-taking).

In total, since 2014, the Investigative Committee has opened more than 500 criminal cases on the fact of committing crimes against residents of Donbass. More than 100 people are among the defendants, including representatives of the military and political leadership and law enforcement agencies of Ukraine.