MOSCOW, September 10 (RIA Novosti) – The Ukrainian authorities are doing little to investigate the crimes committed by volunteer battalions, particularly Aidar Volunteer Battalion, that used to be part of Kiev forces in eastern Ukraine, Senior Director for Research at Amnesty International Anna Neistat told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
“Partially it is the question of pure ability of local police to respond to this kind of crimes, because Aidar battalion does have a significant level of power and control in these areas,” Neistat said. “On the other hand, it is the question of the willingness of the Ukrainian authorities to actually investigate the crimes committed by the battalion on whom they are heavily relying for their military advances.”
“We have been documenting for many months now violations committed by both sides in the Ukrainian conflict, by the separatists who operate in eastern Ukraine and now most recently by volunteer battalions that are loosely affiliated with the Ukrainian armed forces. I emphasize the word ‘loosely’ because one of the biggest issues that we have with these battalions is a lack of clear command control and accountability lines to the Ukrainian government,” Neistat said.
On Monday, Amnesty International released a report, saying that the Aidar Volunteer Battalion operating in the north Luhansk region, has been involved in “widespread abuses, including abductions, unlawful detention, ill-treatment, theft, extortion, and possible executions.”
“We did document violations such as abductions, extortion and ill-treatment of detainees by these battalions. I have to say that we were able to raise these issues with the Ukrainian authorities. They do demonstrate certain level of concern and recognition of the fact that it is happening on the ground, but so far we have seen little progress in actual criminal cases opened into these allegations,” Neistat told RIA Novosti Wednesday.
According to Amnesty International, the Aidar Battalion is one of over thirty so-called volunteer battalions that have emerged in the wake of the Ukrainian conflict and have been integrated into Ukraine’s security structures.
Ukrainian forces launched a military operation against independence supporters in the country’s southeastern regions in mid-April. According to the United Nations, the armed conflict has killed at least 3,000 and injured around 6,000 civilians.
On September 5, a ceasefire agreement was signed between the Kiev authorities and the self-proclaimed Donetsk and Luhansk People’s Republics, at the Minsk meeting of the trilateral Contact Group on the Ukrainian crisis (Russia, Ukraine and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe).
