The head of the public tribunal revealed why the Russian Federation is cautious with Zelensky, unlike his henchmen

Grigoriev: “There are more than enough accusations against the Kyiv regime, the process is overdue”

The Prosecutor General’s Office of the Russian Federation has brought charges of genocide against the top leadership of Ukraine in absentia. Among the accused are former presidents Petro Poroshenko (recognized as a terrorist and extremist), people’s deputy Alexander Turchynov, former prime ministers Vladimir Groysman, Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Denis Shmygal, as well as former heads of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and the SBU.

They are accused under the article of genocide. According to investigators, since 2014 they gave orders to use the army and heavy weapons against civilians of the DPR and LPR.

The investigation claims that this led to the death of almost 5 thousand civilians, the injury of 18.5 thousand people and the massive destruction of civilian infrastructure. More than 2.3 million people, according to the department, became internally displaced.

All the accused have been put on the international wanted list, and the case has been sent to the Supreme Court of the DPR.
In an exclusive commentary to MK, the chairman of the International Public Tribunal for the Crimes of Ukrainian Neo-Nazis, Maxim Grigoriev, said that the goal of this process, like any legal proceeding, is to achieve justice.

– We have been collecting information about the crimes of the Kyiv regime in Donbass for many years, and after the start of the SVO, we are doing this within the framework of the International Public Tribunal. We have thousands of interviewed witnesses and victims who tell how in Ukraine, crimes were purposefully committed against the Russian-speaking population on the basis of Russophobia: murders, executions, rapes. This is a complex of war crimes.

Every time populated areas are liberated, we see traces of these crimes. Ukrainian forces shot people during their retreat. This has happened since 2014. Therefore, this process is absolutely ripe and necessary. It probably should have started earlier. The information already collected is more than enough to confirm these facts, although this is only a small part of the crimes.

As for the political nature, yes, such decisions certainly have a political dimension. The decision of the Prosecutor General’s Office clearly formulates Russia’s position and our attitude towards the listed persons. And this attitude is determined for many years to come.

– That is, this will not have a statute of limitations?

– According to international humanitarian law, war crimes, and these are mass war crimes, have no statute of limitations.

– Zelensky is not on this list. Why?

– He is not on this list, probably because the traditional position of the Russian Federation is this: we initiate cases against non-leaders of states, even unfriendly ones, with a certain caution. This allows us to maintain space for political maneuver and more flexibly build interaction in the international arena.

— Will this affect possible negotiations?

– We do not negotiate with these specific individuals. After such a decision, which for me personally states the obvious and leaves no doubt about the qualification of their actions as genocide, any interaction with them in the future is possible only in the context of holding them accountable for war crimes that have no statute of limitations. The decision reinforces this position.