Updated 12:59 p.m. Moscow Time
MOSCOW, October 2 (RIA Novosti) – After formally charging the Ukrainian defense minister and chief of General Staff with war crimes, Russia plans to put them on the international wanted list, a senior Russian investigator said Thursday.
"Charges will be filed against those individuals and they will be put on the international wanted list," said Alexander Drymanov, the acting head of the Russian Investigative Committee"s department investigating the use of banned means and methods of warfare during the civil conflict in eastern Ukraine.
Earlier in the day, the Investigative Committee, sometimes described as Russia's FBI, brought charges against Ukraine"s Defense Minister Valerii Heletei and its Chief of General Staff Viktor Muzhenko, as well as other top brass from Ukraine"s military leadership, including Commander of the 25th Brigade of Ukraine"s Armed Forces Oleh Mykasa.
The listed individuals were accused of murders, and use of prohibited means and methods of warfare, and genocide in eastern Ukraine. Russian investigators said that Grad and Uragan multiple launch rocket systems and other weapons were used during the attacks on militia-held cities of Luhansk, Donetsk, Slaviansk, and Kramatorsk, claiming the lives of at least 2,500 people.
According to the UN human rights office the number of those killed in the conflict has climbed to 3,500, including the victims of the MH17 crash.
