You're reading: Criminal proceeding launched against Russian officials for unleashing war on Ukraine

Based on the materials of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Prosecutor’s Office of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea has opened a criminal inquiry into the unleashing of a hybrid war against Ukraine by Russian officials and officials of Crimean local self-government agencies.

“The launched criminal proceedings are unprecedented, for the first time an information component of Russia’s hybrid war against Ukraine will receive a legal assessment. This is important since Russia’s aggression has brought deprivation and forced thousands of Ukrainian citizens to leave their homes, especially the Crimean Tatars, who experience genocide by a totalitarian regime for the second time in 60 years. The UN Refugee Agency has estimated the number of internally displaced persons at 10,000, the majority of whom are Crimean Tatars, and a third are children,” the SBU press center reported on May 30.

The criminal proceedings have been included in the unified register of pre-trial investigations under Part 1 of Article 437 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, namely planning, preparation or unleashing of an aggressive war or military conflict, as well as participation in a conspiracy with the aim of committing such actions.